Artwork & content Copyright 2009 Jean Burman
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I stumbled upon a funny article this week. Penned back in 1961 in the Weekend Magazine, it posed the curly question “Will life be worth living in 2000AD?”
(Click on the link for an uproarious belly laugh)
A further 9 years down the track… and now 48 years since the question was raised… I thought it might be fun to see how the world was thinking back then.
Along with the perplexed expression on the man’s face… and advertisements for “all manner of things” down the side… ie. “glamourous” undies, haemorrhoid ointment, dandruff treatment, bust enhancement exercises and guitar lessons (which seriously brings into question what in the heck was going on back then) I thought it was hilarious… and not altogether that far fetched!
The predictions of computers as home help, automatic doors, dried and processed food, food in tablet form and global mass communication were all pretty close to the truth in today’s reality. And whilst rocket belts and air walls are still some way off yet… the rest of it was more than plausible… especially the prediction about food-less foods and how bored we will all be because everything is so easy (granted… they were a bit wide of the mark there. People might be bored… but not because life is so easy!)
This got me thinking about the future and what might lie ahead for us all. And how no-one can answer that… because nobody knows. Not even me. Especially not me… and I’m someone who really wants to know!
But a quick glance back through history soon shows… that not only do we not know what will happen in the future… but no-one else did either. And that never stopped them!
Have you ever read the biography of a remarkable life and thought how it all seemed so easy for them? Reading on… the person’s charted and charmed life seemed plotted from the start… and all that was required of them was to follow their predestined path to it’s natural conclusion.
Somehow I doubt that it was ever that easy. For sure these people had plans. But when circumstances changed… they had to learn to roll with the punches just like the rest of us. It seems to me that we each start with the very same handicap.
We simply don’t know what the future holds.
But sometimes that ”not knowing” can stop us in our tracks.
Fear is the primary (de)motivating factor in the decision to stay put in an ordinary life. “Extraordinary” lives are lived by “ordinary” people who learn to step away from the fear of what might happen… and move on with the daily process of courageously living each day as it comes.
It took me quite some time to get my head around this concept. And clearly I am still pondering here!
But one thing’s for sure… life’s going to happen no matter what.
“But gee… times are tough… it might not work out!” So what? There are no guarantees!
And no-one can tell you with all honesty that it will be easy. They don’t know. Nor do you. But we can all learn how to roll with the punches.
Living each day “doing what we can and must” is our best (our only) option. And who knows… it might all work out for us.
So what happens in the end? Who even wants to know?
If we get off our backsides and get on with doing something meaningful and worthwhile right here… right now… don’t you think it could be a whole lot of fun to look back in a couple of years with a deep sense of accomplishment and say…
“Wow… will you look at that?”
“Who could have known?”
(But that’s just what I think)…. (((chuckles)))
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