Let’s make a bet.

 

Let’s make a bet.

I bet that in ten years this world will hardly be recognizable. If I would have slept since 1950 and woke up today, I wouldn’t know that it is the same world. Now things change a lot faster. All things have changed, but a bigger change is coming. Technology will grow by leaps and bounds and science will not be what it is. The tools that we use will allow us to have what a short time ago was considered a miracle. However, the real change will be humans themselves. We will either change into corpses or into a society involved in constructing its future. We worked ourselves into a corner and there is no way to go on without changing.

The world is getting smaller as the internet gets bigger. There are attempts to control the information flow, but they fail rapidly. No longer can only one group of people keep information locked up. Every person can obtain the knowledge of their choice and every person must make up their own mind.

Numerous groups are fighting to spread their messages and all claim that truth is on their side. Often people choose sides by supporting what will give them a material advantage but there is a new kind of people entering the fray. I see it clearly by just watching the news from around the world. In the age when religious affiliations are on a decline, young people are drawn towards universal morality that didn’t exist a short time ago. I see Black Lives Matter marches where white people are the majority, and campaigns against misuse of fossil energy dominated by western looking youths. Christian folks object to discrimination against Muslims. Young healthy folks are upset with the far-right forces panicking over their “right” to spread a pandemic that is destroying people and the economy. People make their own choices even without leadership. I wonder why.

We conducted a social experiment upon ourselves in the last quarter of the century and now the results are in.

After the second world war, people came back, and countries like ours absorbed them. In Canada, we even took in many people from other nationalities, some of who fought against us like Germans, Italians, Japanese, and many more. The country just finished a war and was deep in debt, but we prevailed. From 1945 to the early seventies, we had the best period in memory. All that count was growing. Better health care, education, unionized jobs, and productivity was rising while being tied into wages.

Around 1980 things changed, and it wasn’t because of immigration. People developed a new belief that some folks who do well should do even better and will share the results with the rest. Trickle-down economics. The belief translated into a major change in taxation, trade deals and contracts. Myriads of young folks tried to get ahead by working harder, getting educated, taking unreasonable risks and failed. Success was mostly not tied to personal merit but simply to the luck of the draw. It’s not what you know, but who you know.

In 2020 the world advanced, productivity improved, but most regular working people found themselves worst off than we were in the 1960s. Older folks like me can see that the earth itself is in danger, our kids can’t expect the social mobility that we had, and everyone is in debt. Poor folks both at home and abroad are merely trying to stay alive. It is at a critical level creating a dangerous situation. I feel that we have taken a wrong turn.

The memory of Peter Lougheed campaigning and winning our confidence is fresh in my mind. To be fiscally Conservative meant to use money responsibly and do as much as possible for the province with it.

Now I see politicians making impossible promises and lying under the same party name. The provincial tax didn’t go up but local taxes do. Why? Since the province cut most grants.

The few who prospered are trying hard to retain their entitlement and using shady methods to gain public support. There was the drive to blame Canadians of minority groups for our problems and lately a new campaign. This time it is seeding fears that our freedoms are threatened by attempts to save people from viral infection.

In 1940 London England came under heavy bombardments. Some wanted to capitulate as France did. One bomb fell on Buckingham Palace and the Brits changed on mass. Canadians, Australians, and Indians in turbans came to help and after great suffering that touched everyone, Great Britain won. This was no longer a good time to speak about surrendering.

As we see maps of Canada where it seems that Conservative provinces are leading in infection rates, people are waking up ready to fight and win the war against the virus. I keep a close eye on world news and read comments on the net. While some folks wish to give in, protect imaginary freedoms, and let the Coronavirus do what it will, others are resolved to fight and win.

In Toronto, the police had to protect the anti-maskers from enraged citizens. In the Western provinces, people are reporting businesses that don’t follow safety measures and BC set up roadblocks at the Alberta border. Canadians, like the Londoners eighty years ago, are fighting back and everyone can see who is winning. Those who lost confidence seeing their leaders vacationing abroad during shutdowns, now cheer when those who spread the disease are being fined and arrested. Even the excuse that Christ told them to disobey health regulations no longer works. He didn’t tell the same to other denominations.

Presently the majority is learning that no one is entitled to take advantage of them, use them and risk their lives. It’s happening on a small scale at home and internationally with entire countries. The internet information lines are humming. In ten years, we will see a world of awakened people who know how to secure their share of everything.

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