All Things Change

We have entered another new era on planet earth. Certainly for the west, at any rate. Although, we, who live in the west should remind ourselves that we are not the major portion of the planets population. Even though we often delude ourselves into thinking that the sun rises and sets for our exclusive benefit and even at our behest!
The most powerful nation on the globe now has a new president, and one of the smallest nations on earth has a new Prime Minister. John Key has replaced our PM of the past nine years, Helen Clark.
These two democracies have voted in the face of the economic downturn for a change of leadership. Are we clutching at straws? Do we imagine that a new political focus will make everything all right? Are we implicitly laying blame on the past administrations? Perhaps, more likely, we are simply doing the one thing the opportunity of democratic action allows us, making the one change the voting public can make. Coincidentally, maybe even fortuitously, it was election time. We could have been in the middle of our two mutual terms. We were right at the point of possible change -and both these democracies took the opportunity and made the change.

The fact remains, however, both these societies are consumer based, greed driven, materialistic in the extreme, and quick to react when there is any threat to our well being and life style. We borrow impatiently to gratify our wants instantly. Executive greed illustrates the point. Position and opportunity is exploited by us all and only limited by the degree of opportunity. It requires a powerful and compelling change in perspective to temper this and mitigate the long term effects. A temporary political adjustment will not do it. Ordinary people like you and I must effect change at a fundamental level and insist upon a value based system of personal and business dealings that is based the importance of the individual above all else. People are what matter. A nations most valuable asset is the people of which it is composed. Not the the GDP or the exchange rate. This is about the most radical adjustment that can be made within a society. Every consideration should be based upon this and not upon the financial or material gain that an opportunity offers. This is an idea that I ponder much upon and any comments are welcome.
To use the Vulcan greeting (from Star Trek for the uninitiated -are there any?)
Live long and prosper
(A variation on Shalom).
John