Occasionally, I will write down my thoughts. No research, just plain thoughts. Not because my plan didn’t work out or so. And hey, it’s my blog, I can write, whatever I want.
This movie got me thinking
I was at the movies this week. I saw Sleeping with a tiger. And the movie got me thinking. Not about itself, but a short scene.
It’s set in Vienna shortly after World War 2. People had not much to live, buildings were destroyed. It wasn’t a great time to live, but there were many opportunities how the country, how society could develop.
Then choices were made. Society developed increasingly in one direction. Living now is much better, then 80 years ago.
But the buildings are built, the opportunities for development are less.
Presently, everything is more or less settled. We went the route quite a bit, and it seems like we are nearing the end of the road.
Why life is a oneway road with many crossroads
It reminded me of life. As a newborn, you have nearly unlimited possibilities in how your life develops. Of course, it depends, where you were born and other factors, but at no other time in your life you have such an open road in front of you.
With every crossroad, you take you limit your possibilities. Nevertheless, it is something you need to do, or you are stuck and don’t develop any further. And it is no problem at the beginning because you still have plenty of options.
But as you grow older, and you realise you have ever fewer options.
Welcome midlife crisis.
Many want to be young again and try new things and maybe partners. But you can’t turn back time.
Life is a one-way road, and you can’t make uturns.
However, what you can do, is getting your path in another direction. It is hard because you spend a lot of time going in this direction, but you can do it.
What does this mean for a good system?
Does this have anything to do with the topic of this blog?
Well, if you’d like, you can always find an analogy. Here I see our society in a midlife crisis or maybe even shortly after that phase.
As an example. When we first learned that mankind is responsible for climate change, we had many opportunities to change the path. But the choices we made narrowed the path. We realise now, that we do not have many choices anymore. It’s frustrating like a crisis.
Furthermore, it is hard because life is still good for many. Going further the same direction is calming because you think you see the goal, and you know where to go. Even if it is a lie. It is easier and saver to believe it.
It’s more beautiful the other direction
Taking a new path is frightening for many people because they don’t know what’s behind the next bend. You don’t know where it takes you. For other people, it is exciting to go on a new path and to explore the unknown.
It is for this people to go on and to show the others how beautiful this new path is. And that the path they are taking is a highway to hell.
Until you reached your final destination, you always have choices. There may not be as much as at the beginning, but you can always go a slightly different way. So that the humans after you have a better starting point with many directions to choose.
Was this post too much of a metaphor? Does the analogy even work?
I don’t know, but it was an interesting thought experiment. What do you think?
Further Information
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My name is Ian DeBay.
I am the founder of iandebay.com. I am a content creator, blogger, podcast, YouTuber. This is my blog where I talk about system change, sustainability and other fun stuff.
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