Global warming and climate change. Peak Oil. Economic collapse. Social unrest. War.
You can’t read news these days without reading a dire prediction of one stripe or another. Global warming, once an object of derision, is now becoming widely accepted as fact. Peak Oil is starting to make inroads into the public mindset, and we all know what is happening in the US stock market and in the Middle East. I’m not a betting person, but if I were, I’d say that given all the issues that seem to be coming to a head at the same time, it’s a pretty safe assumption that life as we know it is changing. It’s only a question of how much, how fast, and how soon.
A lot of other people are making this assumption, too. I see them all over the ‘net, trying to come to grips with the impending changes and grappling with the problem of what to do in the interim to prepare. This appears to be causing a lot of folks some serious anxiety. I see people every day begging for some sort of timeline, some sort of prediction they can use to build their plans around, but from what I’ve seen no one really has anything solid in that respect to offer. There are simply too many variables to consider, and too much we still don’t know about a lot of the issues driving things like global warming and climate change. We. Just. Don’t. Know. And that’s what seems to be driving everyone nuts.
I’ve also struggled with the question of what – if anything – I should be doing to help my community, my family and me weather the changes that are coming. Something happened this past week, however, that has helped me find my own particular path. This past weekend I flew to see my mother in another state (yes, naughty me, FLEW – but being in college full time I didn’t have time to spare to leave Thursday evening, then drive 16 hours each way and still make it back to class on Monday.) It was a typical airplane trip, cramped, noisy and smelly. But something from this trip caused a light bulb to go off in my head. During our preflight safety lecture, the attendant said something I’ve heard a dozen times before – but I heard it this time in a new way. He said “if cabin pressure should be lost, and you are traveling with someone who may need assistance, be sure to put your own oxygen mask on first, and then help that person with theirs.” In any emergency, it is the duty of the people who want to be able to help others to see to their own safety first. If they don’t see to themselves first, then they won’t be able to help anyone else. This is not selfishness; this is common, practical sense.
After thinking this through a bit, I realized that I have a lot of work to do in the next few years – on me. For instance, I’m currently overweight and out of shape. I waste far too much of everything, time included. I’m not nearly disciplined enough in my personal habits, and while I know more about living on basics and making things from scratch than most people, there are still a lot of areas I need to explore and skills I need to add before I can feel that I’m where I want to be. I also need to spend some more time working on my inner life – feeding my spirituality, managing my thoughts, dealing with my feelings.
What about helping others? Well, frankly - most folks aren't ready to do much in their own lives to prepare for an uncertain future. It may be years before the average person on the street, so to speak, even has this sort of thing showing up on their radar. Spending much time on "spreading awareness" at this point is probably a waste of my time and effort. So the choice facing me is - do I spend this time in such a way that I can become a more whole person and be able to better help others when needed, or do I continue to live as I have in the past and as a result have little to offer anyone else when crunch time hits?
This week, after thinking hard on that choice, I have made the decision to put my own mask on first.
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