I See Dead People
They’re No Help At All
“I see dead people.”
Remember that phrase? It’s from the movie The Sixth Sense, where a little boy named Cole had the gift of seeing dead people with unresolved issues all around him? The movie ended with a big surprise. Bruce Willis, Cole’s psychologist, was also dead, but he didn’t know it. Neither did the audience. I remember hearing a collective gasp when the secret was revealed.
Lately, I feel sort of like Cole.
My sixth sense is working overtime. I see dead people all around me, too. They’re tormented by unresolved issues but unable to do anything about them. Each day we’re confronted with more issues but feel helpless. The many, many challenges we face are complex. Every day a new problem reveals itself or an old one intensifies. They all have something in common. We can’t seem to fix things anymore.
So, here’s my issue of the day.
Our modern world of convenience is being challenged.
We’ve known that our grids are crumbling for a long time but have had trouble taking responsible action. We need to not only repair but upgrade our archaic systems. Yet, we use more power than ever before. Rolling blackouts are common in western states as drought affects daily life, but now the Midwest is facing the same problem.
People will be pissed because modern humans have had little experience with inconvenience.
We’ve been pushing buttons to live our modern lifestyles for decades and now take it for granted. That’s changing whether we like it or not.
It’s not just the U.S. that postponed investing in their electrical grids and preparing for the future needs of a burgeoning world population with limited resources. We’re experiencing a global energy crisis. From China to the U.S., Europe to Sri Lanka, the source of our very livelihoods and modern lifestyles aren’t as reliable as they used to be.
We got a sneak preview of how humans react under worsening conditions during the COVID pandemic.
Cooperation is not as easy as we might have hoped. There are a few individuals who work diligently to figure out a solution, but the masses become impatient and often belligerent, refusing to sacrifice or cooperate.
Problems are exacerbated by the vast majority who can’t offer a solution but refuse to accept any suggestions.
So, we become a village of dead people, walking around in a trancelike state, pretending everything is normal. Zombies want their problems solved quickly without contributing anything and without changing the ways we’ve always done things.
Those of us who refuse to resort to wishful thinking and denial, prefer to face the problems head-on.
We welcome the brave problem solvers who have the guts to try new solutions and often labor behind the scenes tirelessly without any recognition.
The rest of the modern world wants to get back to normal.
They want to fly to Cancun, drink, eat at restaurants, buy stuff, date, marry, divorce, gamble, and have fun. You know, life as usual is a bit mindless and entitled. We’ve read about hardships, but it was always a third-world problem. We expected to live our best lives while other parts of the world waited on us, providing us with STUFF. Never mind that we consume more than our fair share of power and energy, food, water, and probably just about every resource used by humankind.
The walking dead are all around us. They wait for someone else to solve world problems only to refuse to cooperate.
Cooperation is so underappreciated. Yet, the long-term survival rates of any civilization depend on cooperation. Down through the ages, cooperation was the magic ingredient, the determining factor as to who would survive long-term. As we face growing world problems, the importance of cooperation becomes paramount. Our problems are so big they can’t be solved by one person or even one country. Success will require the world to work together.
It’s time to adapt and evolve. Dead people can’t help us. It’s up to the living to face reality and solve our collective problems.
Teresa is an author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
