THEN AND AGAIN IN DIFFERENT STROKES
It's the 21st Century. April 2021 to be exact. Aside from the affirmation of how money makes the world go-'round, we validated the power of social media during the historic lockdowns. There is no denying its force. No denying also the thirst of people to be connected and be informed. We are all gossip-mongers. When the ax has to fall, we point to others and claim victim too of the fake news. But when the gossip is hot, juicy, and ascertained- we claim fame as its source. Don't worry, we are not alone. Happened to Adam & Eve, remember? And to the generations and generations and generations henceforth.
Question is, how have you used social media to your advantage? Did you gain friends? I did! I have more than a thousand friends all over the world! Imagine that? I would not have met them personally for it would be impossible to travel to all those places at once. Gosh, I was so excited to connect with them, share how they manage their situations, learn their cultures, and exchange views. I enjoy the beauty of diversity. It's like reading National Geographic, the World Atlas, history books with the characters coming to life through FB messenger. I joined webinars, gave webinars, have unending zoom, google meets, researched, studied, learned, watched, and got headaches via social media. The world is at the tip of our fingers!
Consequently, our life is also at the tip of someone else's fingers. TMI and we are the target of hackers. Complain too much about the government; we're red-tagged for subversion. Turn around to pretend all is well; we feel so stupid for pretending not to see the blatant lies. Remember, "The Emperor's New Clothes?" Similar to the Abilene Paradox? Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Psychologists are having a feast confirming human behavior, discovering new words to describe all the mental health issues they can come up with to bring understanding to the people who are strapped of normalcy as the world did an unprecedented paradigm shift. Friends, this is the new normal. The shift to the next hundred years. Ever wonder how people reacted to the fire, or the steam engine, Edison's filament of light, telephone, or IBM's first huge adding machine aka computer, etc? From the huge machines at NASA, the technology has incredibly been larger than life at the palm of our hands! Isn't that stupendous? From OOH, AH, & interjections we have new social media language too! We can perceive these as awesome developments or hindrances to communication. If we want to evolve in this new world we have to learn to speak the language. Every generation has its peculiarity. Resilience is key.
It took Moses and his group 40 years on foot traversing Egypt to Israel. Vehicles, ships, and planes have made travel faster. We are global! More than 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. Since November 2000, the international space station has been low-orbiting the Earth and astronauts have been regularly sent there. April 19, 2021, the first Ingenuity Helicopter landed on Mars to study it for humanity. Artemis, a few years earlier, sent the first female and man of color on the moon to set up the possibility of a human base by 2024. This innovation of social media has made all the bits of information accessible. If only we use social media to improve our lives or improve humanity, we can grow by leaps and bounds. Just as we use social media to increase the faith we so urgently need in this chrysalis. Can you imagine, "What a bright world this would be?"
Everything is digital and at lightning speed. So is karma. No matter the age in history or the advances in technology, the basic principles in life are resolute and unaffected. From then and again, no matter the strokes by different folks, truth and the good will prevail.
