“Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
Things always sound better in French. It is a beautiful, lyrical language. Unfortunately, my ability to speak it is stuck at the high school level. But there are some phrases that most people know.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
We see it again, and again, and again. There were wars when people had only just learned to walk. Then the Middle Ages, the industrial revolution, the modern age, the nuclear age. We can’t seem to stop fighting. Why? If you have something I want, I can just make another. And then we would both have what we want. We live in an age when almost everything is available. I don’t like the way you do things. So, I won’t watch. There’s always a solution to a problem if you’re willing to look for it. But it seems to be easier to hate.
Too many people live in the ‘now’ and are only capable of satisfying the needs they have in this second. They are not capable of seeing a future for us all. And that leads to shortsighted and selfish decisions that hurt other people.
I enjoy living in the ‘now’ and relishing each moment but I am also able to see a future and those working to ensure that the future is tenable. It is the ‘now’ that will dictate the ‘then’. Have I confused you yet?
We want our species to continue. We want all the other species on the planet to continue. We want the planet to continue. But we also want to maintain our lifestyle, to maintain a relationship, to keep getting the coffee we love. (Okay I don’t love coffee but it is the drink of the masses so it works in this context) We like continuity. But to maintain that continuity we must allow change.
I know it seems like I’ve going off my meds or I’m smoking something funny but this does make sense. In order to maintain the lives we have, we cannot sustain the practices we are doing which will ultimately cause a cessation of everything. Does that make sense?
I’m pretty sure I’m going to make it through my life without too much hardship but it is coming. Our children and our children’s children we’ll be paying the price for our arrogance. Will they have an air to breathe, clean water to drink? Will they have jobs, partnerships, ideals, hope?
By fixing up the present we can guarantee the future. Is that too much to ask?
Butterfly Sand 
This makes total sense, Pam. Unfortunately, it requires sacrifice. Not much, just a little, but more than people want to endure. A little effort now could solve so many problems, but it seems like it’s too much to ask. People in power are afraid that they’ll lose their jobs if they suggest it. It’s much easier to fight, bomb, waste and consume.
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That is such a sad statement on our species but true. We have so much that is good in us but we subvert it for easy wins. As a result, we all lose.
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No, it’s not too much to ask, but I think it’s more than the masses are willing to do. Too many of us sit back and wait for someone else to do things. It’s always ‘somebody else’ who should fix it, so it never gets done. And wars are money-makers for some people. They don’t want to tip that apple cart.
🐾Ginger 🐾
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I do have hope but it is getting harder and harder to believe.
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A journey starts with the first step. Who is going to take the first? Well said, Pam.
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That is the problem: no one wants to be the first!
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Or don’t know how to be the first.
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Apparently, for some, it is battle worthy to resist change.😔
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Yes. I will never understand that.
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I am a pacifist by nature so I’ll ever get it. 😕
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It certainly seems like too much of an ask for those in power, both politically and economically. Bloody short-term thinkers the lot of ’em.
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I wholeheartedly agree!
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You are making sense to me. As I watch the changes in our extreme weather I am somewhat less confident the changes are on a slow scale. I will not be surprised to see them escalate faster than we anticipate. Not only is coastal flooding taking place. Where ever it rains too much there is flooding. It is affecting agriculture. And eventually it will directly affect us. Given the slow rate at which we are moving to make changes the predicted dates are way too close. Especially considering the possibility that we may have another 4 years of the great denier. That will bring us even closer to the 2030 date that many scientists are saying is a turning point. I don’t want to wait to see how bad it can get before we decide it is time to get serious about making changes. It is time to get very serious about curbing green house gasses and other forms of pollution. What else has to burn or flood or both before we decide this is serious ?
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Yes I am worried. We talk a lot but people in power are not listening.
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The guy in ‘power’ would need to get by a mega typhoon to get his attention. And then he would deny ever meeting the typhoon.
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I so agree. I wrote on another post about wanting to out a wall through our San Pedro River. A developer also wants to put 28,000 homes near that river. Well, this is the friggin’ desert!
There are already too many people here! The water table in the valley east of me has dropped nearly 400’ in 45 years. Wells are going dry.
The desert, where our yearly rainfall is only 17-18”, just can’t sustain more people.
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400′! That’s terrifying! Why can’t people see the domino effect?
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