The Future is NOW

The Future is Now

I am just back from an almost 3 month long road trip so this is going to be as short as my time away was long. There was one evening in particular which hit me like a ton of bricks that all we have been discussing at CACOR and COR is no longer theory – it is our present reality.

This is what happened. After waiting for 7 weeks to get my daughter’s car repaired for some body work – work that we had been told would take only 1 week – we were finally ready to drive home. However, given that we had experienced a lot of uncertainty and many changes of plan during our trip I checked the highway report and the weather report. This is what was reported:

1. The trans-Canada highway was shut down for at least 8 hours due to a collision where 2 people died

2. There was a high risk of baseball sized hail in parts of Calgary [2 weeks previous many Westjet jets were knocked out of commission by hail]

3. Smoke from northern Saskatchewan was blanketing most of the prairies and the air quality was TERRIBLE

It really made us feel like the certain and safe world we grew up was gone. Sailed away. Not to be found. It felt like the rug of certainty had pulled away from underneath us. What did we do? Because we have resources we waited till the next day and took a detour thru the USA where there was no smoke. But how we view the world has been permanently changed.

Now that we are “safe” back home in Ottawa we look at life a bit differently. We more clearly see how the new normal has no normal. All it has is change. All it has is uncertainty. Whether its the AMOC shutting down or microplastics in our brains or Polyamory becoming the “New Normal” [or at least accepted as AOK] the world as we knew it is gone.

If you want a more serious dive into one dimension of the new normal you MUST read “Fire Weather” by John Vaillant. We did. Given that we had just spent quite a lot of time in Alberta it hit us right between the eyes. It will help open your eyes to the new world we now live in.

Welcome to the 21st century.

Enjoy the ride.