The End Of The World As We Know It

Sorry to start a blog with such a gloomy headline but it's true, every day is the end of the world as we know it. There is no past, there is no future, only the present, the here and now and that now is constantly changing, always has, always will do. So, the end of the world as we know it? Yes, it will be never be the same again, but that one potentially scary statement creates a massive opportunity for everyone of us. We're lucky enough to spend a few mortal years on this very mortal coil so we should make the most of it. Yes, WE can change the world, because it is forever changing, it has never been EXACTLY like it is right at this very moment. Whoosh! It's changed again. Just like that. Every millisecond it happens, things grow, things change, things die, a constant circle of evolution. Within that constant cycle there are some natural life forces at work, one of which I'd like to talk about, the battle between good and bad, positive and negative, darkness and light. In my younger years and in my naivety I used to think I could change the world, I could make the WHOLE world good, let everybody SEE the light, let everyone become a positive force for mankind, for the planet and to a lesser extent, the Universe. But with the few grey hairs that have started to appear comes the realisation that all that wild dreaming is simply impossible. Because quite naturally, there is good and bad within us all and because of that, we will have good and bad families, villages, towns, corporations, countries, coalitions. Now I'm not here to decide what is 'good' and what is 'bad' but I certainly know of the conflict that runs within myself, a constant battle between the 'good' (do more for charity, spend more time with family, make a difference) and the 'bad' (smoke, drink, gamble, don't give a damn, what's it all matter anyway). To be honest, that 'battle' ebbs and flows so there are some days when I'm 'good' and there are some days when I'm 'bad'. There are some days when I'm a little of both. 50/50. Split down the middle. So it is with the rest of the world, some people are mostly good (say Mother Theresa) and some people are mostly bad (say Hitler) but noone is 100% one side of the ledger, 100% of the time. So it is with people, so it is with government, we all sway and teeter on the balance of life. In Universal terms, most of the times this teetering does not matter because in the end it all works itself out, some years the bad guys win, some years the good guys win. Life is not like the movies, life has unhappy endings. That brings me to the main point of this article because this 'battle of balance' in the end does not matter so much. Look at any 100 year old graveyard and tell me that the daily 'battles' of those buried there really mattered, in the end. I am deliberately keeping this to the Earthly realm and I'm certainly not going to get into a spiritual debate about judgment day etc. Because that is exactlty what I want to talk about, the end. Life's daily battles between good and bad, whether at a personal or governmental level matter so much less unless there is death involved. The day to day stuff will right itself in the end, it is a natural law, for every postive action there is an equal negative action. But with death comes this enormous finality. For that person, for that thing, there is no further chance to play the game of balance, their game is over. That is why we all need to become involved in issues that involve death. Whether it be war, starvation, disease or simply the death of planet through global warming, we all need to TRY and make a difference. Try and stop the madness, stop the dark side from winning. Because, in the end, it will matter a lot. We have got to stop looking at war as the answer to foreign policy, religious differences and fuel shortages (don't get me started on Iraq, the US, the UK, Australia, Israel and Lebanon). We have got to stop accepting that people STARVE to death (can you imagine a more painful and horrendous death?). Stop accepting that people die in THAT part of the world from THAT but they do not die from THAT in THIS part of the world. We have to stop standing by and watching while corrupt governments massacre innocent civilians (don't get me started on Rwanda, the UN and Sudan). We have got to STOP voting for politicians that accept these things. We have got to address global warming - now! I realize these are ALL big issues with no easy and single answer. Most of the solutions lay in governments of countries having to cooperate with each other. Most of the solutions lay with the people and governments of the richer countries. In short, we, they have to give MORE to those less fortunate. You don't need any Nash formula to work that one out. We have too much, they have too little. Share it around. Sure we'll have less, but we've got LOADS, let's give THEM some. That's the problem that really scares me. Global warming is now a matter of EVERYBODY working together to save the planet but in the history of mankind, we have never been able to achieve that. We've always been at war somewhere on the planet (in recorded history has the world ever experienced ONE peaceful day?). We have also never had the technology to destroy the entire planet. Maybe it's time for the light workers to come out of the darkness and start to share their incredible positive forces. Or else, in the end, we will ALL see the light. Sadly, the light in the form of a nuclear explosion or the light from a sun that burns too brightly and is no longer our friend.