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Solar Systems - Rotating Planets

  The Merry-Go-Round    

An old Chinese curse says: “May you live in interesting times.” We certainly do. Each day, events bombard us in the news, and though terrible, they certainly make this era a most interesting one. Twelfth century Chinese believed that the most fascinating periods in history were those filled with upheaval and chaos. I relate to their saying for when I open my eyes in the morning I can’t wait to discover what happened while I slept.  Though emotionally, I don’t like living through turmoil, intellectually I do enjoy stepping outside of conflicts to let my mind make sense of the stage events.  In order to keep my balance, I remind myself that historically peace and war, wealth and poverty, play cyclical games that can last hundreds of years. 

Traveling globally emphasizes many of the changes that have taken place during my own short life. Boundaries have moved so often that I keep having to get a new globe.  Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 2002, the Aouzou Strip in Libya was given to Chad, and Somaliland has declared independence, though without UN recognition.  It was just in 2013 that I went to the Ukraine. Now the borders are different. The Crimea was annexed in 2014 after Russia decided that their need for seaports was more important than Ukraine’s sovereignty.  By controlling this area they considered historically theirs, they gained natural gas rights in the Black Sea and ownership of Sevestapol, the seaport that houses their military fleet. Russia also retained the military equipment left behind by the Ukraine and now controls access to Ukrainian seaports.  Some power still remains with Ukraine, though, for it maintains most electrical sources as well as access to fresh water. The entire area, however, remains a powder keg.

I certainly feel like I am on a merry-go-round and am not sure how to get off.  As it circles I pass the escalating war of human beings suffering because we initiated a poorly advised invasion of Iraq.  But, what surprises me the most, are Americans who have become reluctant to help these destitute refugees fleeing from harm’s way?  I wonder what I would do if bullets rained down on my head?  

Then I spin past billionaire mansions in gated communities and watch their inhabitants deny workers fair salaries, health care and affordable housing.  I pass streets filled with tents and eyeball beggars asking for handouts.  I witness illegal farmworkers removed by police while their employers are not fined for hiring them. Innocent children are scared that they will be separated from their parents every time they leave home. If it is so important to make them leave, why aren’t the employers who have become wealthy by their labor not asked to pay for resettlement costs?  Since our own citizens unwilling to work as day labor for low wage who will bring in the crops and make the beds in luxury hotels?  

If you are a student of history, you know that times of peace and prosperity cycle with those of war and chaos.  There are eras when demigods, emperors, and kings control the masses and those when the proletariate rise up and rebel. The Magna Carter was the result of one such uprising and our own country expelled British control.  China’s dynasties are another case in point.  Each time the wealthy became corrupt a dynasty was overthrown and a new government formed. The children of the original reformers, eventually became lazy and spoiled and the cycle start start over again.  Fascinating? Depressing? Scary? Is this what is happening in our country? Are our leaders corrupt and  self-centered? What about other nations?  

You can’t turn on the news without being blasted with stories of Greece’s fragile economy, removal of the president of South Korea due to corruption,  Neo-Nazi’s in the Netherlands, and cataclysmic climate changes due to man-made causes. We hear that with Brexit, the survival of the European Union is challenged, that pollution in China directly affects our own air quality, that fracking in Oklahoma causes earthquakes, and that overfishing is depleting an important source of the world’s food supply.  Interesting times?  The merry-go-round continues in circles with its horses traveling up and down. I travel on it but it is not always fun. 

Connected we are, whether we want to be or not.  With international banking, mega corporations and trade agreements we left our isolationist past behind a long time ago.

Did you know that warming trends have negatively affected coffee growth in Sierra Leone thereby increasing coffee prices in the U.S.?  That extreme weather brought on by rising temperatures and changes in precipitation threaten the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink?  Yes, we are global earth.

Remember the idiom “nature abhors a vacuum?”  As an anthropology student I was taught that if a poor overpopulated country is located near a wealthier one with a smaller population those living in poverty will soon be pushing boundaries and moving into the country with greater resources.  There may be local laws trying to prevent that movement but the laws of nature say that governmental laws will lose in the end because the desire to survive is so great that people will do whatever they can to feed their families. 

The U.S. may try to stop immigrants from coming to our soil but any anthropologist will say that in dire times, need overcomes law. Population movements can’t help but effect our lives.  Last year 65 million people migrated, from war-torn countries and the from those affected by global warming. Severe drought affected livestock and farming and lack of drinking water meant thousands moved or died. Rising sea levels put farmland under water in Bangladesh and the island of Kiribai.  What will it be next year? Will we continue to ignore this threat and let people die?  What if Manhattan has another severer hurricane that threatens their food supply?

Changing long held thought patterns is difficult.  It involves digging for unbiased updated information and a willingness to shift beliefs when presented with new facts.  Analysis ca be emotional because results often challenge minds that basically wants to be comfortable by clinging to old ways. Still, adapting to change should not be more difficult than learning how to use the latest app. Yet, it is.  We see it when she learn that fewer than 50% of American adults believe in evolution.  These non-believers view scientists as a threat to their worldview rather than as researches and providers of information from which to reevaluate decisions. Perhaps there is a benefit to clinging on to old ways and thought patterns. 

I am a good example of a person who resisted using computers. As a museum director I made sure they were around me but I had other people operating them and did not want to personally spend my time on the computer. That was a bad decision. Now I realize that staying abreast of the world’s social, political land technological landscape are  requirements for living fully and in the moment. They certainly are a must for any parent educating a child to participate in modern day society.  

Though I write of living through a dire period in our nation’s history, these tnteresting times are not all terrible.  It can be fun to put yourself on a merry-go-round and enjoy the ride when your eyes are open for a gold ring to grab. There is always hope. Using your mind to discover underlying causes and developing ways to overcome problemscan bes challenging and rewarding.  I am certainly  curious to discover what happens next.  I would like to return to earth in 200 years and see how this political turmoil will evolve?  What is your prediction for the future?

References:

•  Latest countries formed - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/09/16/the-9-newest-countries-in-the-world/?utm_term=.b4297be5a30aNational Center for Science Education -https://ncse.com/node/16774 
• Effects of Rising Sea Levels -http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/sea-level-rise/
• Global Climate Change, Vital Signs of the Planet: https://climate.nasa.gov/e
• NASAffects/
• EPA - Effects of global warming: https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-human-health

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