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by Rick Mortimer
It is incredible to me that six months has passed by since I have written anything in my Blog. Amazing how time does slip away if we don't prioritize what is important to us. For one thing is sure: "Where you put your time and your money, is really where your heart is."
Put another way, 'How you react to everyday circumstance, is who you really are inside." WoW. That's a big statement. Our character will show itself in every decision and every choice we make - especially will it show itself in times of stress or tribulation. How do you handle these things? I know I sure get surprised by my own responses sometimes!
I am currently living in Lafleche, Saskatchewan. Lafleche is a small town in S.W. Saskatchewan that is pretty much a farming community comprised of mostly middle-aged to elderly people. It seems that in most cases, the younger people have left the farms and moved to the cities. Perhaps it is true that there are more 'opportunities' in the cities and that is what this generation needs to do to 'get ahead,' but at the same time, this movement is sure hurting the small rural communities of the prairies because of the loss of them.
Farming has changed radically in the last few decades though, and the mind set of grain farmers today is that if they don't get bigger (meaning HUGE) they will not survive. So now, instead of the 'family farm' we have these huge businesses that control untold sections of land, and it is all run by one or two people using huge modern machinery. I'm not against that -or for it - I'm just saying that things have changed radically in this area over the past few decades, and it has meant big changes in the way people live.
Recognizing where things are going and how that effects us, is important. I love the line from Louis Caroll's "Alice in Wonderland' where he says: "If you don't know where you are going, then any road will take you there!" So simple. So true!
So, where are these young people going? Most of them are rushing off to the cities to take on jobs that they see as a road to the future. But is it?
When the industrial revolution started in the later part of the 18th century, people left the farms and headed for work in the factories in the cities. Industry was changing and with what was then modern methods of manufacturing opening up new factories all over, jobs where available and opportunity was everywhere! People left the 'old ways' and embraced the new. And this is all good! We should embrace new technology and ways of doing things. BUT... we still need to understand how -and why- things are changing, and use this knowledge to advance ourselves by getting on the right road to achieve our own personal goals.
In other words, we need to educate ourselves in order to take control over our lives and get the results that we personally see as success.
Success can be defined as "A progressive realization of a worthwhile dream or goal." By using this definition, it is easier for me to see if I am, in fact, succeeding according to my own personal chosen path in life – and then readjust t my own course accordingly.
The point I am striving at here in this seemingly rambling chat, is this; The industrial revolution has passed. It was over a long long time ago. It ended 'back there' in the 19th Century. And yet, we are still basing our way of producing income on those conditions and circumstances created during that revolution. We still teach our young people to go out into the world and base their whole way of wealth creation, on a totally outdated method. And then we wonder why those same young people seem so disillusioned and seem so unable to manage their finances to the extent that they are in debt up to their ears.
The answer is pretty clear. We are responding to creating wealth the same way we did over 200 years ago! We keep trading hours for dollars, and yet, in this era of the Internet and with new technologies being discovered and utilized seemingly ever day, our ways of production and distribution of goods and services have radically changed from what they used to be. The old ways are not working so well anymore.
I’d like to explore this more in future Blogs, so I promise to be back here a lot more regularly than once every six months!
Stick with me!
Oh! Before I go! It is spring here on the prairies and the geese are heading north again! The snow goose migration is on in full swing, and it is simply awesome to behold! Hundreds of thousands –if not millions- of these beautiful noisy big white birds are all around me here, reminding me how plentiful our God really is! He just does not do things by half-measures!
AWESOME!
