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| A promotional brochure for Al Gore's newest book, "The Future". |
Life is a strange affair, full of weird happenings and
discontinuities and as a friend once said, “It’s so risky we’ll not get out of
it alive”.
Much of it can be, and is, so intellectually dishevelled
that it gives pause to wonder “why”, but then equally, many moments burst upon
you leaving a beautiful sense of hope and an enrichment of purpose.
Recently while walking with my brother, two young boys
approached on their bicycles and a step off the footpath to allow them to pass
resulted in a rather clumsy fall.
Hurting all over, my spirits were repaired somewhat and for
a moment made me forget the pain, when the two young boys who could have easily
sped on laughing about the “old bloke” who fell over, stopped and enquired about
my welfare.
The pain was momentarily gone and a few seconds, I was not
feeling as glum about humanity as is often the case.
Just a few days ago while travelling on and standing in a
crowded tram in central Melbourne, a young Indian fellow offered me his seat –
again, for a moment, the world seemed like reasonable place.
However, those moments of personal encouragement seem
irrelevant and trivial in consequence when by chance of birth, your country
prefers to be governed by a group of people whose passions are driven by short-term
objectives and beliefs that the good life is to be found in materialism and the
momentary joy of acquisition.
Promises in the lead-up to Australia’s recent federal
election were many, but rarely did anyone illustrate concern for, a suggest
anything that might enable you and me to endure the unfolding decades that will
be clearly, and unquestionably, decidedly different from which we have just
emerged.
It seems our leaders are devoid of the robust and bold
thinking that enables them to imagine equality, decency, collaboration and fairness;
things not fundamental to the economy rather behaviours that evolve from
sharing, friendship, caring and empathy.
Should you consider that utopian thinking then, for a
moment, consider the alternative to which humanity has adhered to for three
centuries and upon any reasonable measure, what we have is a distressing dystopia
in which the world economy is vacuumed up by just a few and billions are left either
in or teeter on poverty.
Complicating that is the fragility of world governance with
our much fêted democracy being sold to the highest bidder leaving it obligated
to corporatism.
Writing in “The Future”, Al Gore said: “The extreme
concentration of wealth is destructive to economic vitality and to the health
of democracy”.
Yes, it’s a weird world in which a few have plenty, billions
are in poverty, democracy is almost a memory and uplifting moments are disappointingly
rare.
