I used to be normal.
Well, normaler, I should say. Up until a few months ago, I was your typical American. Enjoying the good life, surrounding myself with endless streams of entertainment, never really thinking much about the underpinnings of the “magic” that made stuff work. My iPhone, my MacBook, the Toyota Sequoia… I used these things on a daily basis. But I had no clue how they actually worked.
Every day I flip a switch to turn on lights. Twist a knob to take a hot shower. Pick up a phone to talk to a friend in another state. I tap into resources that I honestly have no earthly idea how they work. But they do. And I’ve enjoyed them for my entire life.
The problem is, I don’t think they’re always going to be there. In fact, I believe that life as I’ve come to know it is going to change drastically in the near future. For all of us, really.
To be perfectly honest, I wish I could go back. I wish I could unlearn what I’ve learned about the world the past few months. That I could somehow transition back to when I was blissfully enraptured with the magic around me, rather than seeing the serious case of ugly that was hiding behind the curtain. Grab a pair of ruby sneakers, smack ‘em together and go back home, if you will.
But I can’t. And as uncomfortable as I’m going to make people in the future with my updates, article posts and semi-coherent rants, I won’t be stopping anytime soon. Because I sincerely believe we all need to educate ourselves about what’s really happening in the world around us now, so we can be better prepared for the future.
It’s almost ironic. I’ve always hated the subject of history in school. Why waste time studying the past, when there was a present to enjoy, a future to plan for? The past was useless, I thought. Until I started to see the patterns of what happened before… and overlayed them with what’s happening now.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing how I went from a clueless casualty waiting to happen to a (slightly better) prepared person. It is my sincere hope and prayer that you’ll follow along.
Seriously. Start stalking me now. It’ll be worth it.
- Kevin