Change - What Lies Ahead?

"If anything is constant, it is change."dependent on religious fanaticism, but rather anything
- Bryce's Lawsopposed to the policies of the United States such as
As I have written in the past, Americans are greatdemocracy, freedom, and economics.
reactionaries. There are numerous examples toDomestically, 9/11 was our wake-up call making us
illustrate the point including Pearl Harbor, 9/11, andcognizant of our vulnerability on our own home soil.
Hurricane Katrina just to mention a few. But in allSure, we have inaugurated some changes through
three of these examples, warnings were issued wellHomeland Security, but we are still vulnerable
in advance which were disregarded and written offinternally, including New York and Washington, DC.
as nothing but the rantings of alarmists. The adviceAll of this will affect us for many years to come and
of respected futurists is rarely heeded in spite of thewill cost us economically and socially. To illustrate, we
supporting facts they present. Instead, they areare all aware of the burden of terrorism in terms of
regarded as entertaining oddities who are not to betravel restrictions, but we will also see it in revised
taken seriously. Nonetheless, when predictions comebuilding and zoning requirements, changes in office
to fruition it is usually too late and Americans have tosecurity, importing and exporting, etc. In other words,
react and pay dearly for doing so. In other words,our carefree world is a thing of the past and we will
Americans tend to live for the moment and rarely trybecome more guarded in our actions.
to anticipate future events. Nonetheless, theseAs a personal opinion, I believe we will continue to be
events, whether we anticipate them or react toplagued by terrorism as long as America maintains a
them, represent the catalysts for change affecting allposture of military defense, and not offense, to
of us.combat it. I guess this is the price we pay as a
Recently, I was asked to give a talk on "Why wesuperpower and being the latest reincarnation of
resist Change" which was based on a paper I wroteRome.
some time ago. In addition to commenting on how* TECHNOLOGY - Americans love gadgetry but I do
change affects us, I was asked what I foresaw asnot believe they understand the social ramifications
those events or elements to affect change in theresulting from it, particularly amongst our young
years ahead. To my way of thinking, there are threepeople. For example, text messaging is leading to
agents of change to pay attention to:some rather bad habits in grammar and speech. In
* IMMIGRATION - We are all aware of the problemsthe classroom, it is also the predominant vehicle for
we have with illegal aliens, particularly along ourcheating on tests. There is also a strong argument
border with Mexico, but I don't believe the overallarising that Social Networks and videos on the
American populace truly appreciates the impact thisInternet are leading to changes in our social mores.
will have on the country either financially or culturally.To illustrate, such vehicles are being blamed in the
If our immigration policies are left unchecked, we willwell publicized incident involving the battery of a 16
have to pay a hefty fee for the overhaul of ouryear old girl in Florida by eight other teenagers.
infrastructure. California alone is already feeling theIt is my theory that as the use of technology
impact on its schools, highways, and medical facilities.accelerates, social skills diminish. If this is true, we will
And the Golden State is just the tip of the iceberg.see significant changes in the years ahead in terms
Starting with the southern states, the entire countryof attitudes, values, and how we communicate. In
will eventually feel the pinch of an immigration systemother words, we are looking at significant cultural
that is essentially out of control. Culturally, accordingchanges resulting from the use of technology in the
to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, by 2010, Hispanicsyears ahead, some good, some not so good.
will be the largest minority group, easily surpassingCONCLUSION
African-Americans. By 2050 it is projected HispanicsIt could be argued that the Media, which is driven by
will represent approximately 25% of the population.economics, and the Weather are two other agents
Undoubtedly this will lead to an increase in Latinoof change which should not be overlooked. True, but
political influence, and a decline for other groups.Immigration, Terrorism, and Technology are the three
* TERRORISM - Most Americans think of terrorismmost obvious agents staring us in the face yet we
as nothing more than the war in Iraq. But terrorismare exerting relatively little effort to deal with them
knows no boundaries and has been adopted as theeffectively. If history has taught us anything, it is
military tactic du jour in the Middle East, Asia, Africa,that we will do too little, too late, to address these
and South America. Think about it; in terms ofproblems and we will again be faced with a crisis on a
conventional warfare, there is no power on Earthsignificant scale. But then again, this is how Americans
that can compete with the United States.prefer to operate.
Consequently, our enemies resort to terrorism, whichIf you would like to discuss this with me further,
we are still learning to combat and forcing us toplease do not hesitate to send me an e-mail at Keep
change militarily. This also means terrorism isn'tthe faith!