Our Poor, Fracturing World!
(Society)
By C.V. Monague
One is worried about the world in which one finds oneself. It is increasingly beginning to take on the hue of a modern day, anarchistic dark age. Where the (physically) strong will rule, and oppress, the weaker members of our society. How has this come about? This is an attempt to analyse things by looking back to observe the beginnings, study today’s structures and make some value judgment on our probable trajectory into the future.
Once the trauma of world war two had subsided, or at least the ‘hot war’ hostilities had come to a rather tenuous conclusion, the mighty economic engine room, known as the United States, found itself in a position of possible disaster for several reasons.
First though, in Britain and the Commonwealth society had made some radical changes. As the conflict had raged, the factories and indeed the whole ‘home front’ had been worked and sustained largely by the women in the country. From the factory floor to the land army – from armaments manufacturing to flying combat aircraft to their designated airfields as they delivered the fighting machines that their sisters had made!
Not only the British of course, but just about all of the countries that had been caught up in that particular madness had used their womenfolk in this way through necessity. The problem was, when hostilities came to an end the men came home and wanted (not unreasonably) to pick up their lives at the precise place where they had left off. this was, of course not possible!
In reality, the most difficult time begins when the guns fall silent, and the physical conflict is over. For a brief, very brief, period of time there is a great feeling of elation in the hearts and minds of the victors, and an (almost) overwhelming feeling of despair among those who have been defeated.
After that brief period of polarized emotions, confusion reigns supreme! What to do next? Is the question on the mind of every-one, no matter where they are on the spectrum! For the professional soldier, there is a great deal of solace to be gained from the continuing routines of army life; training and the maintenance of discipline are essential to the smooth running of any military force. For the poor conscript however, there is no such solace. Their time of living on the edge has suddenly ground to a shuddering halt, leaving them (mentally and emotionally) high and dry! They are expected to simply go home and pick up their lives where they left off when the call to arms came. It has taken humanity until the first decade of the twenty first century to realise that our societies have placed upon them an impossible task! True, the occasional man will return and for many years appear unscathed by the experience, but the truth is that no-one escapes from the mental scarring of such an ordeal! In general, their lives would never be the same again!
When one transposes this concept into general terms, one must seriously consider the possibility that when, in human terms, a major event takes place (such as a world war) it is only a ‘hiccup’ in natures great scheme of things. When America, to its eternal shame, dropped the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the immediate effects were total devastation. What would nature have done about that?
We get a clue from the British nuclear testing grounds situated on Christmas Island, where numerous nuclear devices were detonated over a number of years. Within a relatively short space of time some very peculiar anomalies were observed by the teams monitoring the radioactivity in the affected areas. Mother nature struck back by mutating much of the flora and fauna to survive the onslaught of radiation; not only to survive, but flourish!
At the conclusion of the hostilities of World War One, people got accustomed to stand back from it and refer to it as ‘the war to end all wars’. Well, World War Two took care of that particular illusion! Today, at the beginning of the twenty first century, we appear to be standing on the brink of World War Three.
What then can be done to avert the looming disaster? One believes that there are many steps that must be taken for the remedy to occur, but that two major long-term steps are crucial, as without them it can never be resolved. There are no short term, quick fix elements to it and it will take a few generations to take hold; however first, the social structure of the family must be re-established in order for proper instruction in social order and in establishing for oneself a position within the wider society. The first objective should be the elimination of the modernist egocentric attitudes in which the young of all developed nations firmly believe that the Universe revolves around them. This must start from within the home. It must be administered by the caring, strong love of a solid family structure and would take two or three generations to establish; after all, the downside of wealth is the inflated sense of power it engenders. One is not suggesting a return to the post war extended family, with all the flaws that occurred there, but the establishment of a workable structure that could produce a sense of loyalty, devotion to each other and a communal sense of achievement. However, it is imperative that an understanding is recognised that not all societies – specifically nations – will even want to change direction, and under those circumstances a competition may develop between the established value systems.
The second step must be the development of an excellent education system that truly reflects the aspirational values of the society concerned. This system must be a balanced and harmonious view of how everyone can contribute their particular expertise as an important paving stone embedded in the pathway to a better and more stable world. With a true education system as opposed a nineteenth century, factory style, model of schooling as described admirably by Sir Ken Robinson, with its diminishing responsibilities to the individual, our society has at least a chance of developing that balanced and reasonable system to which one is eluding. This can be done as has been demonstrated by Finland.
The bottom line though, is that unless we begin to see (not just look at) the problems that are looming because of our stupidity, neglect and arrogance; recognise that if we do not rectify those things like climate change and lack of kindness to each other, we will soon have simply destroyed ourselves! Without people, there is no power and everything that we have tried to build and control was all for nothing. We must wake up and not just look but see! Then act!
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