First Article - April 12, 2005 - The Ever-Changing World
The United States of America is wonderful place. The land of opportunity, the land of the free, home of the brave. The forefathers of this great nation were real visionaries. They fought hard for freedom, and made sure their successors enjoy the fruits. These were selfless acts... acts that can only come from selfless intentions.I've lived in the States for only seventeen years. A lowly recruit in the U.S. Navy, a result of the Philippine-U.S. Bases Agreement which expired over a decade ago. I came to this country with nothing but a backpack, confident of my future because the U.S. Navy was going to make sure I got fed. It was a wonderful part of my life living under the wings of this mighty Navy. And for a good fourteen years, I benefited from my efforts trying to become what's expected of me... be a sailor. However, things weren't going to stay the same. I can't remember who quoted, "The only certainty in life is change," but whoever that person was, he wasn't kidding. I left the service for civilian life. There are no regrets, only memories.
All things in life change. I know this from my own experience. As a matter of fact, change is so imminent you could almost predict it. For example, I knew since last year that oil prices will continue to rise a few months after the presidential elections. It's been evident even before the elections that oil prices would go up, and as a matter of personal opinion, I thought the adsministration probably tried to control the oil price hikes just long enough so it wont hurt the presidential ratings. Again, it's just an opinion with probably no basis, but who cares? Is anybody reading this article?
So why is change so evident nowadays? Why does the average middle class change jobs at least six times in a lifetime? Wasn't it only a few decades ago in the sixties when a person would retire in the comfort of his own home and a social security benefit in his pocket? Nowadays, retired homeowners face a dilemma in the form of property taxes!
Why do people live longer nowadays? Wouldn't it have been better if most of us died earlier, say in our sixties, rather than the current life expectancy of 83 years old? Should we blame medicine, or a renewed awareness in healthy living? Or are we just smarter and stronger than our predecessors simply because of some heightened evolutionary change? Word of advice; if you really havent taken the time to review your retirement plan, now whould be the best time. Why? Because most of us will be living in retirement longer than we expected; that means we need a bigger retirement plan than just social security benefits.
The way we live nowadays is full of change. People try their best to hold on to security... a secured job, a secured marriage, a secure investment. People think that it's possible to hold on to something that does not change, something secure, but is it possible? Can something be so out-of-this-world that it does not change? For me, the only thing that does not change is the belief in a higher, benevolent power that we call God. But then again, tell that to an atheist!
The fact of the matter is, we live in an ever-changing world, and to live in an ever-changing world, we need to review our principles, our thinking, more often than we might want to. For people who always take a hard stance at a certain issues, this becomes a problem. However, it would be hypocrytic to argue that old values do not have a place in our present society. As I've said before, my belief is that there is only one entity that does not change over time; therefore, anything pertaining to spirituality and God must be never-changing. Belief is like a lighthouse in the storm, giving direction to lost ships that can't find their way to land. It's not a surprise, for example, that the Catholic Church firmly stands on certain issues like abortion or family planning. I can see how hard it could be to try to be so steadfast on those issues despite the pressures that our modern, ever-changing society are putting on the Church. I don't think the Muslim religion has a problem with these matters... they either don't think it's a problem or they don't live in a fast-phased environment like we Christians do!
We live in a time of unprecedented growth in intellect. This intellectual growth is the real fuel for our fast-phased civilization. Technology has created a means of communicating around the world at the speed of light. This is a time when our true intellect is challenged by conflicts between the old and the new values and beliefs. We are so caught up in this fast-changing world that we don't even have time to really take a hard look; I mean each and every one of us take a hard look, and weigh out these old and new values and see which ones really count in the end, or at the very least, weigh which values we personally should adhere to. In this ever-changing world, time is very short. Stopping to think is a luxury that we, the working class, approximately 80% of the entire population, just don't have. Is there time for revelation, serendipity, or even inspiration in our ever-changing world? We deal with changes in our lives so much that we often don't know what we are all losing...time.
posted by Remigio @ 11:55 AM
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