It’s That Time of the Year!

Ever since I can remember, it seems that around this time of the year, for no particular reason that the secular institutions will admit to, that people start loading up on the technologies for the coming year -- and so it is more reasonable to hope, that life-altering changes are more likely to occur, or at least be considered. And life should be reconsidered -- in light of the new world of possibilities that even modest changes make possible now.

I was reminded of this fact even yesterday while out obtaining a new all-in-one printer, after a week of researching the subject on the Internet for a week -- after realizing that the “old” one of a couple of years of exemplary performance up to that time, no longer acted with the accustomed predictability and reliability. Not only was it possible to research the current prices of the major convenient/expedient outlets -- but also, to learn of all the customer perspectives one often fails to consider without these points brought to one’s attention. By the time I was ready to “pull the trigger,” I was peaking towards being the world’s leading authority on the best-performing all-in-one printer in the budget category -- beyond which one could pay infinitely more, but not get actually more value. That is the important price point to determine -- in the purchase of anything.

After securing that purchase, I remarked to an associate who also made that same purchase on my recommendation, “We’ve just purchased the capacity to be a Kinkos, if we are motivated enough to learn all the functions that this machine can perform -- for a little more than $100.” Undoubtedly, some enterprising person will actually do that. Many more will simply delight in that capacity even if they never use it. What seemed “too good to be true,” years ago, may actually be cheaper and more practical than bothering to “fake it.” In fact, that is the logo of the company whose product I bought, “Imagine the possibilities.”

These are the times we live in -- no matter how much the old vested interests and status quo works tirelessly to convince us that the country and the world was never so hopeless -- which is their justification for why we continue to “need” them, as we have in the past, which they hope to continue for at least as long as “they” live.

The conditioning of the past was also the resistance against learning anything new -- and why many of the older generations, view change with such reflexive aversion, suspicion and distrust. The entrenched status quo institutions forged their ascendance on the culture of ignorance and fear, and still operate that way, knowing that is their only defense -- in a world truly open to all. They don’t want to go there -- and play in that arena. And their game entirely consists of maintaining and defending "their" turf -- in an era where the ground is shifting at warp speed, or as fast as it can be imagined!

One can choose to live in this new world -- or choose to reject, resist, deny it. The great benefits are those open to them. But they are undoubtedly there.