A Change in the Weather

 

 

"You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows"

Bob Dylan

 Subterranean Homesick Blues

1965

It has been said many times "there is a storm a comin', and it has nothing to do with the weather". The other night, as I was laying in bed listening to the wind and gentle rain ushering in the first cool front of autumn, I thought about the change coming to our country, coming to our world. Unlike the evening wind whispering through the pines, bringing the gentle dance of raindrops to the window, this change will rush across the landscape like a thunderstorm on a sultry, summer afternoon.

Most of this year I have been listening, watching and reading. I have been trying to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can. I have been learning more about our history, world history and current events. There is something gnawing at me - a type of unrest. It is something that I cannot identify, except I feel urgency. Not panic, just urgency. I feel the need to be at the top of my game, to be totally prepared, to leave absolutely nothing to chance. 

One of the mantras I try to live by comes from more than a century ago, when Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors only the prepared mind.” By this he meant that many outcomes don’t just happen— they are the products of preparation. Preparation, therefore, is a key - sometimes to survival itself.


This brings me back to the change in the weather. In 1970, a futurist named Alvin Toffler wrote a best selling book called Future Shock. In the book, Toffler defines the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state that individuals, as well as entire societies may encounter from experiencing "too much change in too short a period of time". Even back in the early seventies, Toffler argued that society was undergoing enormous structural change. This change could overwhelm people. In addition the accelerated rate of technological and social change left people feeling disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation". In other words, they became future shocked. He also believed that information overload was a major component of many social problems causing future shock.


Wow - sound a bit like today? Not a bad assessment from Mr. Toffler considering the book was published over 40 years ago. Having lived through that time as well as today, I can safely say the pace of change  today is far greater than in 1970. Truthfully, so much is happening right now at such a breakneck speed, it almost impossible to keep up - and I am retired!


Many things once considered safe or sacrosanct, are now being brought into question. This rapid change has caused confusion not only by individuals, but also our society. Our Constitution, our religions, our politics, our everything is on the table. Things we grounded ourselves in at one time are no longer available to us. We can become disconnected, lost, or best case, just very confused.


Today we are seeing how many are reacting to these non-stop changes. There are record breaking sales for all types of guns and ammo. There is a new show on TV is called Doomsday Preppers - a show dedicated on how to survive a cornucopia of bad events. The latest Costco on-line catalog had the first two pages dedicated to all shapes and sizes of survival foods. There have been articles in the newspaper about the Federal Government buying hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammo for almost every major department. And lets not forget about the record sales and prices of gold and silver. Even the Mayan calendar ends on December 21st, which does nothing to settle the unsettled.


One final thing on this upcoming change in the weather. Many today believe that President Obama is following the game plan created by Cloward & Piven, two professors who taught at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Today, more and more believe this might be a brilliant, Machiavellian plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state. This plan would involve changes, huge changes, rapid changes. So much change, sometimes up will look like down and black will be confused with white. Again, sound familiar?


Our hometown boy, Hibbing's own Robert Zimmerman, was very prophetic in his song about Subterranean Blues. You really don't need to be a weather man to know which way the wind blows. What is coming is yet to be known. All I know is this - the winds of change are blowing, and it is much more than a gentle breeze. Stay alert, stay educated, stay prepared.


Practice those three things and hopefully, we will make it through. Individually and together, God willing, we will make it through.