And that's my take...(End of a Decade)

As we rapidly close in on the end of the first decade of the 21st century, I can't help but wonder what the future holds. Save for maybe the 60's, we have endured the most prolific decade of change in mankind's history.

For nearly all of us, it was the first, and will be the last, time we have bore witness to a new century. But all that hope and forethought would soon be shattered as the pillars of financial gluttony would tumble from the sky. From that day forth, seemingly every aspect of our lives changed.

We worry more. Hope less. Understand more. Understand less. It takes twice as long to travel anywhere with all the security. We can't even take enough shampoo for a week in our carry-on when flying. We think differently. We have felt the proverbial belt tightening as we cope with record job losses. Not even the scions of the corporate world were spared. Taxpayers are now in the business of writing insurance policies, manufacturing automobiles, and banking.

Our telephones are no longer a telephone. In fact, being a telephone is rather low on the list of their functions. Now we take photos, listen to music, watch movies, surf the net, discover information, and play games on these smart contraptions that happen to also be able to make a phone call. And it all fits in your shirt pocket.

Our human interaction has never been so low as it is currently. And by the time you have finished reading this, it will be even lower. And so on. With blogs, chat rooms, twitter, facebook, and the various other social media available, you and I never have to meet in person. All we need is the internet. Hell, we don't even need the internet...we just need our neighbor to have the wireless version of it and we can still access this invisible globe of information and activity. No wonder we understand each other less with each passing day.

And don't even get me started on pharmaceuticals. We have a pill for everything now. What ever happened to 'take two aspirins and call me in the morning'?

But what sadly is the most prominent change in mankind in the last decade has little to do with places, or things, or events. It has everything to do with our attitudes. We have become a society of unaccountable, narcissistic, and apathetic sloths, possessing little motivation to invest energies and integrity into personal leadership initiatives that will result in positive outcomes for others first, then for ourselves. We yearn for better, but shrug at opportunity. And perhaps more damaging, we demand more, but give less.

And that's my take...

http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com