This Old System is Coming Down.
Are you ready for the new?
I believe I have written severally about this reality of a changing world system either on this magazine or on my blog site. It’s a fact that we can no longer shy away from, but which we can only prepare to either enter in strength or stumble into one way or the other. We just must enter the new somehow.
And like I have also written sometime before, Covid-19 pandemic is clearly a wakeup call to see things clearly for what they are and it’s also a kind of bridge between where we were before the outbreak and the next age on earth. And it’s ok to keep talking about it as just maybe we can hit the point at which we are clearly ready for the next things which are coming.
I was a having a conversation with my wife a short while ago and we were just talking about how many things, institutions, systems organizations have had to change tactics because of the pandemic and how things may not really return to the way they were before the pandemic, even though people are calling for a return to normal.
There are lots of sectors in our society that we noticed are experiencing major shifts and for which Afrikans, and anyone who cares to listen to us, should pay attention, including even the governments of Afrikan nations. I will share some of the things we have noticed, and just maybe someone will be challenged to make the required adjustments. It is needful that this is done, especially when the next ten years are crucial in regard to the direction the world is shifting towards on earth.
One of the things we noticed is the changing face of charity, charitable organizations and the fact that is it no longer going to be the way it has always been. Here is what I mean. One of our sisters invited us to join a Facebook group that she created. The primary purpose of the group is to bring together people who care enough for others to share from the little that they have. Meaning you can share household items that you really don’t need or use anymore as long as they are still in good and working condition, you can share clothing items, food and any other things people may need. Such a simple but beautiful innovation and it’s almost costless to every party involved. All you have to do is, announce that you have something you want to give out, the group admin takes it up to look for anyone who has such needs and in no time the items get to whoever asked for them. Likewise, if you have a need, you can let the group admin know and they will share this with the group to alert them to the need and encourage them to share what they may have available. Now compare this style to the usual charity organization where you have to register a charity or a non-profit with the government, which sometimes may take years to be approved (while the people who need the help are already dying). It takes a whole load of money to register and the many other things that are involved in setting up a charity organization. And not to also talk about how charity and aid organizations in Afrika have also become covert platforms for money laundering, drugs and human trafficking etc. So basically, a simple Facebook group can do more charity with little to no cost than the supposed charity or nonprofit organizations are doing.
Another instance is the issue of schooling and physical classroom teaching.
I do not think anyone needs to tell someone else that this lockdown actually came to show us that the physical classroom is not necessarily the ultimate when it comes to schooling and that, that space is shifting very quickly. Special kudos to those parents who for years have been going the line of homeschooling for their kids. It’s like they saw the future and what was coming for physical classroom learning and, wasting no time, they took the path less followed and here we all are, right in the middle of virtual classrooms. Many of these pro-homeschooling parents were arrested and some even intimidated by their government agents. But they were right all along and now we have to join them.
Another example is the space called media and how many media companies are laying off their employees, and not necessarily because of the shutdown, but because they are actually now seeing that the future of media is no longer a physical building but virtual. Why? Every piece of news, both international and local, along with entertainment etc., can be accessed through a phone. Putting both radio and TV in the museum. And also, even journalism is even taking a different twist right now. For much of the big news you hear globally and which makes for major headlines were not covered by professional journalists but by some passersby who used their mobile phones to cover the occurrences. Case in point, the killing of George Floyd which has changed the course of the fight against racism in the entire world was covered with the phone of a girl who happened to be passing when the incident happened.
The question now is this, is there still any use of spending thousands of dollars to go to school to study professional courses that can be learnt easily from YouTube? Or is there still some pride and arrogance attached to being, for instance, a professional journalist, when everyone can be journalists with just their phones? The internet has become the place where even the most basic things get millions of views, much more than mainstream media houses do.
A while ago, I saw on Facebook a Chinese phone that allows you to project your videos onto any flat surface, just like a normal TV would be. That alone for me is bye to TV and everyone working in TV stations.
Things are changing very fast in every sector of our daily lives and we need to pay attention to the next direction we are going towards in the world. The family system is changing, the church system is changing, businesses are already adjusting to the changes globally and basically, nothing is going to remain the same. Not now and not any time in the future. We are already in the future. We just need to tell ourselves the truth that we are in a new system which will unfold more and more as the days go by.
Are you ready?
What's Your Reaction?
