I woke up this morning feeling great, happy to be alive and surrounded by wonderful people. The actors and reason for every action. Looking around me, I saw all the gadgets and appliances birthed by technology (the dreams of people in reality) and reached for my favourite- the cell phone. Some decades ago, it would take me about a week to be informed of happenings in the US or even Mali with only sketchy details and a lot of embellishment. Today, with the touch of a button, I have news real time.

Science and technology have brought about development in unimaginable proportions. There has been a swift shift in every sphere of human endeavour and the gains are unquantifiable. Medicine, Commerce, Astronomy, Economics are all beneficiaries of this paradigm. The future is even mind boggling considering the prospects of Nano technology and robotics. All these are the achievements of PEOPLE. People like the great Albert Einstein and You.

There has been a constant movement in civilization because of the existence of an idea and the desire, will or inclination to negotiate a better deal. A belief in the existence of “better”. We are where we are today and experience what we do because of the ideas, actions and sacrifices of PEOPLE. It’s like an Opera with performers and an audience.

Despite the astronomical advancements in human development, there are major crisis rocking every corner of the globe. No country is excused although at varying degrees. The doctor’s report says: “lack of transparency and purposeful leadership”. This is the status quo because of the virtuous circle of PEOPLE negotiating a better deal.

People are the number one challenge of people. Although we overcame some of the initial barbarism that haunted the early man through civilization, we are back there at even heightened scales. Did I hear you ask how? History is my ally in this discourse. She is littered with occasions of barbarism.

Heard about a lot of massacres? Remember the holocaust? We constantly change in a bid to forget the horrors perpetrated by PEOPLE against PEOPLE. The Second World War, the great depression, the 9/11 attack are all relics to prove this. Women were killed in indiscriminate acts of terror mainly extended gang rape and mutilation. It is reported that there were girls under the age of eight (8) and women over 70 years who were raped and brutally beaten. In some quarters during the Second World War, men were often sodomised or forced to perform a variety of repulsive sexual acts in front of soldiers. Men were murdered for refusing to commit necrophilia with corpses of women. Men were forced to commit incest- fathers to rape their own daughters, brothers their sisters, sons their mothers. Those who refused were killed on the spot. For what? Negotiation of a “better deal”.

Now the flashback is over yet recent happenings simply behoove reason. On the 15^th of December, 2014, Taliban militants attacked a school in Peshawar, Pakistan killing 141 people, 132 of which were children. Remember! Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Why? What did those children do? What threat did they pose? I am still wondering whether the clock of our existence now functions anti-clock wise. Savage people that were only seen through folktales are now a reoccurring decimal of our reality.

There is chaos everywhere. No country is free from crisis. From Australia to South Sudan, US to Colombia, China to Nigeria. The beverage of crisis is brewing stronger and I bet you that the effects of this intoxication are unimaginable. The absence of constructive channels of communication is the locus classicus. Globally, we are experiencing a “midnight hour”. It seems to be transforming into a lifetime. How do we wake up from this coma? What we face today obviously goes beyond any local area. It is a real challenge. Some quarters posit “conspiracy theories” as an explanation for our current travails. There is no conspiracy. I will say it again there are only PEOPLE taking advantage of our collective refusal to face reality.

The antidote for this disease of crisis plaguing the world is a simple act required of every person. PEOPLE must be reasonable and communicate effectively. You might ask who a reasonable man is. He is a man of conscience. A man that puts himself in other people’s shoes before negotiating the next deal, knowing that for every choice, there is a consequence. PEOPLE, the culprits and heroes of our present experience must act responsibly if not for anything, for tomorrow. The tomorrow of our children, the tomorrow of our world and the tomorrow of our history.

Picture credit: http://realdirect.com.au/