Has anyone else stopped to ponder how many lives we touch? I’ve just been to have my haircut and the nice lady wished me a Merry Christmas afterwards. Isn’t it strange how a phrase out of context and at the wrong time of year can make your mind work overtime?
Thinking of the holiday season got me thinking about James Stewart in a Wonderful Life, I know that’s not the full title but everyone knows the movie, right? Anyway, the character was shown all the consequences of him not being there to make a difference and he knew everyone. In these technological times we live in, we touch more lives than we know, leaving comments on someone’s blog, reading the story written by an unpublished author. With all of this happening on a daily basis. I’m surely not the only one to realise that nowadays we have more opportunities to meet people online than we do in the physical world.
The world has changed dramatically since 911, becoming a more liberated and scary place than ever before. The U.S.A. have elected a black president, twice not just the once, are they ready for a female leader? Hilary Clinton is capable and knows the challenges having been the First Lady while her husband served 8 years. 911 wouldn’t have happened while Bill was president, he stood up to bin Laden and gave him a warning before any terrorist plot was implemented. That’s why Al Qaida waited for George Bush. What they didn’t expect was the manhunt they got, but I digress.
In these days of online meetings with people from all over the planet coming together sharing ideas, thoughts, tales and finding like minded people at every turn, it should be no surprise to find we make friends we may never meet. In my youth I had a few pen pals, some foreign. I would write a letter in English then translate it into French or German before sending it. The reply would come back in English but today we write in our own language and this can be translated by software into any other language. I feel that the science fiction I read is fast becoming science fact. All of this is open to abuse, but every technological breakthrough has always been developed quicker for war than peace.
Today, if enough of us get together, given the shrinking nature of the planet, could we stop wars before they start? Can we create a world we can be proud to leave for our children? I think anything is possible, Tesla in the U.S. are developing rechargeable batteries for houses, solar panels on the roof will charge these batteries and make a National power grid obsolete within 50 years. Science Fiction becoming Science Fact. If we build houses on Mars with this tech then we could resolve the overcrowding here, yes Mars isn’t very welcoming just now but we could change that. We have the scientists, we have the entrepreneurs ready to fund this and Mars is only a week away, how much closer will it be in 15 or 20 years?