The Modern World and It’s Evolution
The world is different now and I don’t only mean the numerous advanced technology and modernization emerging from every nook and cranny or the diverse disruptions happening in different economies and sectors helping us have better experiences; I mean the fluidity of culture, the incessant dissolution of human behavior, the evolution of personalities and the expectations set on every one of the 7 billion people living here.
I’m excited for the new trends happening; there’s a peace that floods my heart when voices are being heard and systems are being improved to serve the entire citizenry. I especially love that we are starting and pushing hard for conversations that should have been had before some of us were born and that for some of these conversations, appropriate actions are being taken.
But I’m a tad worried too.
It’s 2020 and I’m suppose to be woke. The vocabulary is different, the language is changing and I feel like I might not be able to keep up enough to function in the capacities I might find myself and the places life might take me. Between you and me, I don’t really know what being woke means. Just like how the idea of romance was misplaced in Hollywood romcom’s, being woke too has been wrongly misrepresented across different fronts.
I’ve always thought of Society as the ultimate culprit. Many of the crimes and atrocities we are dealing with today can be traced back to someone or a group of people who were ignorant or nonchalant about a tranquil sense of holistic growth and development in our communities, cities and countries.
But Society has also done some good stuff. Some societal structures have helped us become who we are today and till today, gives us a sense of direction of the journey of who we are becoming.
My concern (when it came to how the world was evolving) used to be strictly on how to work hard so a robot doesn’t come to replace both in the local and international frontier. Now, I’ve got bigger fish to fry. You know for a while and it’s still ongoing, the fear of technology has been instilled in some of us. But now it’s even out to maximize tech to survive, do business and eventually thrive. But for me, that fear is still there.
Everyday, I have to be aware of others before I speak, act, share my opinions and proffer my solutions to many of the problems we’re faced with. Now when I mean aware, I mean to SEE THEM how they want to be seen, spoken to and addressed.
I know you’re probably wondering “that shouldn’t be hard. It’s called being a good person” but it is harder than I thought it would be. I don’t understand half of the things going on in the world right now and most especially in my own country.
Globally, we’re all facing a pandemic and we have prioritized our health more than any other thing. But there are economic struggles — job losses, business bankruptcy, continuous depreciation of the Naira, the red marker canceling Nigerians from international gigs, appointments and offers, the poverty life being lived even by educated citizens and the many bottlenecks social enterprises face as they pull resources to create changes that would be long lasting.
There’s the gender equality issue which is long overdue but isn’t still attainable till two hundred and something years I think, according to Melinda Gates. The conversation of gender equality isn’t only restricted to men or women anymore because they are non-binary gender spectrums to consider. I’m not talking sexuality now, I’m talking gender. Men and women (whether straight or queer) aren’t the only gender to worry about now. Even though the current fight is between the male and female gender, other gender fights are silently ongoing as well. Men and women do the same job and aren’t paid the same thing but are trans folks even considered for the job? Another fight for another day.
There’s also the Sexuality Advocacy issue and this is a careful path to thread for a lot of people who have been used to one thing for a very very long time and now is feeling lost and confused in the world. If you’re a Nigerian like me, you have opinions about all the sexuality conversations going on both offline and online. If you haven’t given it much thought, it’s not having a conviction and when you meet a queer; we can’t predict your behavior and you’re part of the problem.
There’s the conversation around knowledge exploitation to make good success — upscaling, updating your skillsets to be relevant and to thrive on your job or in your career; this conversation can go a million different ways.
I could go on and on about the different issues concerning perception, religion, the constituition, the different economic sectors, the law but let me pause here so I can show you where I’m headed.
All these above are all external issues— things we didn’t choose, make happen or decide to be part of but our actions and inactions would determine our eventuality as individuals and as a people.
But what about the internal evolution? Do we really evolve as individuals? Have you experienced any monumental change in your personal life?
How can we evolve internally to fit into the evolving world? Where do we start from? How do we go about it? How do we focus?
All these questions and more keep me up some nights. I stare at my wall and wonder and on some nights, I wonder while watching a funny show on Netflix.
