Christmas is usually a time for forgiving. It is a time for spreading joy and merriment especially prominent in traditional Christian cultures. Of course, the central tenet that Christ was born at this time of year mainly falls by the wayside these days almost as if people do not have time to have a faith perhaps? Certainly, we are all rushing around like that proverbial headless chicken (or should that be turkey). At the moment we may feel as if we're all stuffed too. Times are definitely 'challenging'. But, haven't they always been? Humans have faced many challenges as we developed upon this globe. These do not need to be spelled out here. Suffice it to say that humanity has - to date - endured. We are quite a resilient species, after all. Perhaps that's why we are top of the food chain? So, whilst media portray numerous doomsday scenarios with which to peddle their particular wares please do remember that it's not over till the body mass to fat ratio of the disadvantaged (female?) citizen vocalises appropriate melodies. Hmm...
So, resilience is more than just finding the latest technology to solve whatever problem besets us at a particular point in time. Resilience, we may contend, is really about common values rising to the fore in hard times so that solidarity ensues and we work together in the face of adversity. There are detractors from this modus operandi - there always will be - those who perhaps feel that should humanity ultimately find commonality then their schism of especially hierarchical social control will become redundant. They would lose their 'power' and those common values would help work towards ensuring a more peaceful coexistence for all upon our increasingly fragile planet. This in turn would obviate the need for the miltary-industrial-pharmaceutical complex that currently dominates global economics. We would need another reason - such as happiness - to help orient our belief systems towards less 'productive' reasons for life and instead focus upon a more inward looking senses of worth.
Who knows that the next year will bring. That story has not yet been written. We can guess. We can cross palms with silver and read tea leaves. We'll most likely never entirely be sure about the future. However, the past is another story entirely. We are imbued with an intelligence as a species that allows us to learn by our mistakes. Its time to heed the warnings of the past here in the present and help each other aim for that future that we'd all like to share. We're getting old - humanity - but we need to ask if we are getting any wiser along with that?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
DD.