How
often have we heard the above, or similar, over the years?? Just saw it on a
bumper sticker yesterday; that is why it came to mind this morning. Life in
general goes on and little gets “tweaked” or changed. Only those things which
may affect us directly, or affect our comfort, immediate objectives, etc. are
actually modified. Even then, the changes are made so as to impact status quo
as little as possible… Unless, of course, change is forced upon us … then it
has no mercy …
Experience
and memories are created over a span of time; these can be individual and their
make up include those personal stories which happen to each of us as we grow
and develop. Much like some of the ones you read about in this blog. When associated
individual memories belong to people who make up a group, they then become
collective and interchangeable memories; when there are several groups which have
become a cohesive unit, these accumulated memories evolve and in due time,
become a culture. A culture then forms a somewhat closed circuit which seeks to
propagate itself by shutting out other cultures or groups and by creating the
need, for those within, to associate with similar.
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| We are all a part ... |
Change (to become different, or make something or somebody different;
alteration, variation, or modification, or the result of this) is not
easily bought; we become creatures of habit and fight off any “rocking of the
boat”. As we become older and “set on our ways” (heard those two sayings before?) our lives acquire a rhythm which
is meant to take us to our final years in “comfort and ease”. This is also part
of our cultural lore; you study, then you work, grow, create a family and then,
as a good producing entity who has served its purpose, are put out to intellectual
pasture and eventually pass on to another life, or plane, or whatever afterlife
state you may believe in.
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| We are indeed afraid ... |
But, what happens when the core and
structure of the system which has become the mainstay of our culture begins to
sway and threatens to break? Do we doggedly go on, or do we look to make some
headway in trying to modify this core structure? Our own system in this great
country of ours has evolved over centuries of self reliance and of being able
to fight off those who want to make changes from within, while at the same time
accepting, albeit with a growing degree of discomfort, those who come from
other cultures and who may actually be agents of change. This becomes a
dichotomy in of itself, and one we have to learn to manage. We expect the new
members to behave as if they have lived here for generations. This cannot be;
we either accept he first generation incoming folks as they are and understand
they come in with their own ideas, hopes and cultural make up, or we better not
accept them at all. We must accept that only the following generations will
adapt to this new (to the first comers)
culture.
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| Can a Country re-make itself? |
I speak as a first generation “adaptee” (well, you know that new words are coined
here regularly) … who has, after many years of tumbles and starts, evolved
into “one of the guys” but who, despite this, is able to look at this cultural
society from an analytical viewpoint, understanding that the world in which we
live as a nation has changed profoundly within the last 25 years or so;
especially aided by the advent of the frontier free virtual society we ourselves created: the
cyber world.
We understand that change is needed but do
not want to pay the price of this change; our culture keeps trying to tell us
that it can continue to exist in the “new order” without outside collaboration (it calls it “interference”) and
coexistence. This is just not so; it is like pulling the proverbial wool over
the collective eyes of its members. When we look at other cultures that have
co-inhabited in close physical quarters (and
I refer to the European countries) we see that over time, they have fought,
made alliances, fought again, helped each other, made marriage a working tool
amongst the ruling circles, fought again and eventually, came to the
understanding that a level of peaceful dialogue and coexistence was the best
way to go.
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| The winds of change are not always gentle ... |
Today, after many years of all of the above,
we have a number of developed nations that, while maintaining their individual
identities, manage to share and coexist, understanding that whatever befalls
one will be affecting the others shortly so … helping each other out has become
an intrinsic part of this shared life. And it works … We look at our own
country and perhaps that which helped us escape a direct involvement in wars
fought, is becoming a major impediment in this new international in-fighting
and development. I refer to our being so isolated physically; as a country, we
have had very little in the way of experience in dealing with bellicose
neighbors. As a result, we have had no reason to change our ways and thinking
mode over the years. Suddenly, those frontiers have been eliminated and we don’t
quite know what to do about it. We have a little computer and this becomes our
travel guide; we can visit, talk, see, discuss and argue with people we have
never seen and perhaps never will. We can choose to exchange ideas, be allied
in virtual wars, discuss philosophy, find common or uncommon grounds … or close
the doors … all of this, without leaving our dining room.
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| But the "new you" can be beautiful and vibrant |
The winds of societal and cultural change are (have been for a while) waging a defined attack upon our own world; whether we want to accept this or not,
is up to us. However, denying this hard fact will not obviate it nor make it go
away. The longer this recognition is delayed, the more drastic it will be to
adjust to the advances the rest of the world's developed nations are achieving or have already achieved, and the
further behind we, as a heretofore leading society or culture, will be.
And I thought it was just a little, interesting bumper sticker ...
Be Well … Be Back!!
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