Under pressure

This crisis situation was a good project. That kind of tension was definitely new to me. I came to understand and learn some of the realities of an under-pressure, last-minute situation; however, what it did most was give me a foretaste. A foretaste of what my--rather our-- future will look like.

I had an epiphany type moment: a day after giving our group presentation, I was flipping through world news. I read about the attacks in Libya and the tsunami in Japan and within minutes my head started whirling. It really hit me: our world is hitting the breaking point of meltdown. Just like one of those brainstorming exercises, my brain started to connect one event to the other: the US economy crisis, the nearing worldwide oil shortages, the exponentially increasing worldwide population paired with decreasing resources, the lack of clean air and water, the divorce rate in the US, an unsustainable increased standard of living, the barrage of natural disasters, the wars scattered about the world, the greed and selfishness that is becoming the backbone of America, and the list goes on. 

I was simply overwhelmed with these thoughts. I could easily pull the "I don't mean to scare anyone" card, but I think we have this tendency to pacify truth for the sake of good feeling- we are possibly afraid of what truth entails. Thus I believe this is as real and frightening as it sounds and should be addressed with concern. I know truth for the US and those living in it--meaning all of us-- is that we will have to face drastic changes, and time is not waiting up on us. Change is happening fast. Our country is facing an inevitable crisis, and if we don't proactively respond to it, change will be too swift, too powerful for us to adequately react to it. So the question is: how are we preparing in the here and now?

-Andrew Battiato