On the last day of December 2016, I was in Portland, Oregon, USA. It was a cold winter month that year with the snowfall much heavier than normal, so I heard from the locals. The gloomy and cold weather did not help to uplift the spirit but I was there for a good and important cause, to wit, I came to send my daughter to the local state university. Sending some one to higher education is a sign of hope. It is an aspiration for a better future. I wrote the following reflection that winter, which is now being reproduced in an embellished and updated form. So here goes.
Portland, Oregon: The year 2016 can easily be classified as an annus horriblis, that is, if we are to focus on all the bad, the sad and the horrible things that have happened. It was a year of ‘the big, the bad, and the ugly’ of things. Or, from a different perspective, a year typical of the current state of the world which has somehow managed to grip the world by the throat for a long while now. Or so it seems.
The characterisation comes partly because we are limiting our perspective to only a short period of time, and also because the frequency of the happenings of such negative events have intensified as compared to previous periods that we have experienced. But then, if we were to look at the whole timeline from the beginning and the dawn of known history, nothing really different has changed. The same dark, brooding and scary picture still emerges as if it was painted by a pessimistic artist on a long and large canvas called history.
This brings to mind an ‘on-off-on-off’ casual conversation which stretched over time which I have had with a Hindu acquaintance. He is much younger than me but the young man has an inquisitive and clear head on his shoulders. I am not sure how many times we have actually met, if at all, but somehow, we have managed to keep in touch with each other over a good long stretch of time over the Facebook and the mobile phone.
I can vividly recall, in one of of exchanges, that he told me of the term ‘Age of Degradation’ being mentioned in their religious texts or scriptures, where essentially evil is seen to be ascendent and prevailing during the Age of Degradation.
During that epoch, the sense of humanity is seen as lacking every where, and is even put on a seriously defensive mode, barely able to breathe, as it were, let alone thrive. In other words, the candle of humanity is flickering precariously in the winds of degradation, ready to be blown off at any moment. Should that happen, it is darkness that would surely envelop the whole of mankind.
We must have been conversing or commenting on the sad state of affairs in the world that we saw through our eyes when Arvin, yes that is his name, dropped the term ‘Age of Degradation’ into our conversation.
So where are the evidence of this rot and downward spiral into the abyss? We have seen good men die, innocent people killed, famous personalities suddenly gone in an instant and our loved ones and dear friends leaving us as if in a hurry. You know what I am talking about and could give your own examples to support this trend of thought and logical conclusion that follows.
Then there are the often-faceless millions killed, persecuted and maimed right before our eyes on live TV screens and the internet. Hot wars, cold wars and ugly fights have flared everywhere like uncontrollable forest fires or waves of vicious medieval epidemics coming at us. The current phenomenon of global warming due to Climate Change has wreaked havocs on weather patterns causing fires and floods in seemingly random locations and regions around the world. Seemingly, is the right word but obviously there is such a thing as ‘method in the madness’ if we are to observe more closely.
Natural disasters of all kinds (earthquakes, floodings, typhoons and hurricanes, forest conflagrations, and so on) seem to be the norm and are happening around the clock. There are no longer any perceivable patterns as in the past where these things happen according to some patterns or seasonal influences. Nowadays, natural disasters and severe inclement weather are occurring almost every where. Hardly a day passes when we hear of natural disasters happening locally or overseas.
Diseases, pestilence, pollution, moral degradation, unfettered greed, species extinction, horrible accidents and destruction of all kinds are found everywhere. And Fukushima is still fuming mad and spewing radioactive waste into the environment and the ocean to this day. We shudder at the thought of what are still in store for the world.
In short, we are being enveloped in a climate of total fear and seeming hopelessness? Perhaps, we may not be wrong to assume that we are now in the Age of Degradation. So Arvin, you may be right about this scary epoch you warned about in our conversation. By any measure, we can say that it has indeed been a vicious and horrible stretch of years since 2016, with that year as a year of great evil. Till that point, that is. What lay in store beyond were even more vicious and horrible. So it turned out to be and will likely continue to be, in a sad and tragic charade through the corridors of remaining time.
Now it is the end of 2022 and what transpired since December 2016 till now have not improved on our negative perception and pessimistic assessment. When before I used the term ‘medieval epidemics’ in my description and depiction of how the Age of Degradation would unfold or manifest itself, it was just a matter of a few years ahead of 2016 when we have had the horrible visitation of the Wuhan virus, or the corona virus pandemic called the COVID-19 coronavirus.
This medieval-like pandemic has wreaked havoc, death and destruction across the whole world from late 2019, and its effect is still lingering on until today. An explosion of millions of new infections have just erupted in China right at this moment in time. With the easing up of restrictions on move and travelling, and abandonment of their ‘zero tolerance’ policy, the floodgates have been left wide open, as it were, by China. Have they given up hope in containing the virus or like the rest of the world, have they accepted their fate and have resigned to living with the virus? What are the implications to the rest of the world as borders are being re-opened and everyone seems to be competing with each other to ‘make that trip somewhere’. Another round of convulsive and disastrous scenario is not preposterous.
Is there no light at the proverbial end of the tunnel? If we were to look hard enough we would have also seen some glimpses of hope. Especially, for those in the know or have the knowledge to read the signs. They would have drawn ever closer to the real Source of Hope. They would have their faith refreshed, found solace and comfort when needed and not be drawn into the simmering cauldron of evil and the quagmire of iniquity. Their trust in the spirit of humanity would have been kept intact. They are the saved.
Whether we belong to the pessimist camp or the optimist group, it would be foolish to ignore what has happened in 2016 and beyond. These are signs and warnings that the worst may be yet to come, or all could be the signals of a new dawn of hope and rejuvenation emerging. When that will actually happen is any one’s guess. That day has been promised and it will emerged. Time will tell.
In the meantime, the choice is ours to make. We are now standing on the threshold of our own future destiny. In that sense, the future is in our hands. The question is indeed: To be or not to be? How so?
Let’s change the world and change our future by first changing ourselves, as Gandhi once said. Dive a little deeper into our inner selves, pay heed to that small voice, reflect, pray and meditate more. To you, your religion. To mine, is mine. But pray we all must. That is the first rule.
Let us choose hope, choose forgiveness, choose uprightness and morality. Let’s choose fear of God, personal integrity, tolerance and compassion, justice, love of one another, sharing and sense of community, hard work and diligence as our fundamental values. Let’s build a future for our children and grand children, if not for ourselves. That is the second rule, to change our mindset and attitude.
The change begins with each one of us. It’s personal and individual. Begin with a change inside our own self- right now as we step into 2023. Begin by making the right choice. Begin to hope! As Einstein once said, “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” Wise words, worthy of reflection and following. That is the third rule, to change ourselves first before we try to change others.
When we have made that commitment its only then that we can honesy proclaim “Happy New Year!” and really mean it. Not make an empty statement of wish that will never come true. A empty statement that we make when our minds are clouded with what we have imbibed and said amidst the clangs of pots and pans like in some paganistic rituals of old. No, let’s not make another lie on top of all the lies we that we hear or say every day. There has been too much ‘Dajjalistic’ lies and outright propaganda already. Time to step into the light and be counted. That’s the fourth rule — to step up, take action and be counted in the change revolution.
Let’s make it a really ‘Happy New Year’ and the start of a new dawn. Let’s convert the ‘Age of Degradation’ into one which is the ‘Dawn of Hope’. Then, and only then, can we honestly wish each other a ‘Happy New Year’ everytime the clock strikes twelfth hour of midnight on December 31 each year. May it be so.
