Not that any individual can do much about it, but perhaps it’s nice to sit and wonder on a balmy day — where the hell is the world headed?
Technology’s rapid progression has allowed us a glimpse into our future. Cars used to be science fiction, apparently — in what age, I wouldn’t know. Perhaps, someday, the ability to fly will be brought to us by a yet unknown inventor; I just hope that it’s in my lifetime. But that’s a celebration saved for another time, for toasting a distant event is predicting the future, another ability not yet within our grasp.
So what’s the point? The point is very blunt (pun absolutely intended): the present. This will not be a motivational rhetoric on the importance of living in the present or seizing the day, for who knows if you’ll get through the day at all. No, this is about your next move. The one you just made after reading the last sentence. This is about the moves others make. The ones they made after the last sentence. This is about the decisions our “elected” leaders make. The ones they made after the last sentence, perhaps? These people “run the world,” so to speak, but where exactly are we running?
Let’s think of the world as a cohesive unit. Nothing utopian about it, just utilitarian. A cohesive world benefits the majority by pulling its population in a calculated, planned direction with some reason to drive the movement. Now let’s compare that world to a dog sled. A horse carriage. Hell, you can even compare it to Santa’s sleigh. Think of every animal in the pack as a country. There are hundreds of horses or dogs or reindeer, and they are all moving in the same direction. Under the force of a whip? Let that be the sharp reminder we repeatedly give ourselves to keep moving. Now stop. Remove the whip. Keep the reins. And slightly manipulate the direction of each dog, horse, or reindeer so they are all facing a different degree of direction. Now replace the whip and let go!
This is our world.
We, as a population, are moving in a progressive direction. We move forward in our thinking, or so we hope, even though multiple education systems prove otherwise; our technology is bettered by brilliant minds on a daily basis, and we aim to become a superior race to the one we were yesterday. The one we were after the last sentence. But technological and scientific research has a direction. It may be polluted by the money and ideas of purely profit-based corporations, but at least each tries to work towards one cohesive goal. This, however, is not the case for our politics, our lawmaking, our society’s progressing customs and traditions, or our social interactions with citizens of other nations. Perhaps an example, or a few, will clear the blur.
Vladimir Putin is the face of Russia’s political strategy to the world outside of Russia, which sees the country through mainstream media. The news tells us that Putin is currently unstoppable by diplomatic tactics; however, as history has proven, this is not always the case. But that is beside the point. Rumor has spread through the media and spilled over into the minds of the world’s public—the Russian federation is looking to regain the territory held by the Soviet Union until 1991. Recently, Russian troops simply marched into Crimea in Ukraine and took it over, claiming it as a Russian territory. Well, wasn’t that brilliant? If we’re going to continue to piss and claim strategy on an international level, I might as well start kicking people out of my way on my run route.
But that’s enough of that. Let’s move southward to the nation of Pakistan, where a nine-month-old was brought to court on charges of murder — clear evidence of the enlightened minds that run the nation’s judicial system. It’s hard not to throw infants in jail for all the malicious intent they generate within the constraints of their fontanelles. Unfortunately, that’s not all. I must drag you eastward to the nation of Iraq, where the institution of child marriage will soon be officially legitimized on a national scale. Because what nine-year-old (the age set by the Iraq government for the proposed law) would not want to marry a thirty-year-old bachelor? It’s beautiful that the concept of eternal happiness within the institution of marriage can be bestowed upon children who have yet to learn how to rationalize fractions. Or perhaps they have learned that already, and they’re ready for the marriage banns.
I hope to have a new phone by next year, because I believe the next model will have more technologically advanced features than the one I currently own. I also hope I’ll be able to live longer, as health care can protect me from diseases that had no known cures only decades earlier. I could hope for a lot more changes; however, I don’t believe I’ll be receiving many or any for that matter. Currently, we are all gears in reverse, moving backwards into what looks like the 20th century.
