Change is Constant

"The only constant is change." I say that a lot - other smarter people have said it before me as well. The world moves.

War today (Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and maybe even certain aspects of the Iraqi resistance) might be among the smaller pieces of a bigger show - Iranian nuclear delivery capabilities and the American plan of containment (via Iraq and Afghanistan). Or maybe we are actually looking to keep from having three powerful countries (Iran, Pakistan, & India) right next door to each other from having painfully powerful weapons?

The United States is getting evicted from military bases. China is expanding its world position. Japan is evolving from being a pacifist nation to one of the most well defended countries on the planet. Africa is taking significantly more attention as its natural resources and competition with the Chinese increases. And instead of the President calling together the G7 or G8 nations together, Bush called on the G20 nations of the world to help solve the world crises. What

Maybe the final die has already been cast. Maybe these global troop movements are just a practice and placement run for the war with China. We have placed forward troops in South Korea and Japan. As well, we have significantly upgraded the defense systems of Taiwan - though I wouldn't expect a Taiwanese President to support an American cause versus China. The Russians would, at minimum, be a buffer zone for us - possibly even side with the US. The central Asian region is broad. Wide lines of travel in and out. Troops in Afghanistan give the American military a great position - one that of course will be attacked immediately.

This world is complicated. Some wars are needed, sadly. Politicians push war fare for their citizenry (and votes). A lot of people believe in war. Many people make money via the machines of war. And some people just want power.

This talk about change and upheaval reminds me of something I read about ants. It talked about ants who attempted to reproduce when they weren't of the reproducing caste. A certain chemical created in ant motherhood gives away the individual and other ants attack. The authors says it shows how rules and strict following of those rules have dictated societies for a long time.

I say I don't know about those rules. I say society has evolved in sputters due to those who were fearless enough to break down the walls of the rules. Those who didn't fear change.

We are animals. We fear each others motives. We can conceive for the long term and we know there are others who do the same. Change is constant, and as Charles Darwin said,

“It is not the strongest species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the ones who are most responsive to change.”

I feel as if we are missing it...

It's a large boat to catch, this world is. Hard to miss it in some ways.

Homo Sapien Sapien - The Genetic Being that we are. Our skin. Our eyes, hands and feet. The meat of what we are.

Human Being - This mind we have. Phenomena that we are. We have the ability to question, conceive, abstractly construct worlds in our mind. "I doubt, therefore I am" - Descartes.

We speak of our social contract. The one in which we must sacrifice for society in order to have personal long term gain and all that jazz. There is a second, more important one. It is more a moral contract. It is a very cloudy concept of definition at the best because of the charged nature of the word.

We have a responsibility for something grander. We should recognize somewhere deep down inside of us that to move from Homo Sapien Sapien to being Human Beings we have an emotional and societal leap to make. We have to allow the individual to move beyond the animalistic struggle for existence. We have to allow the society behind that individual to move beyond the simple search for "money" and grasp the concept of wealth. We have to grasp change and its constant nature; the only true constant in the universe.

We gotta work. We have to struggle. We have to ignore the fear. And we have to change.