This Is Our Time

This is our time – our exquisite turn of chance – to be heroes. To step forward and defeat a threat so great, it imperils the American Dream. That is our responsibility, to be sure. But, it is also our invitation to greatness. What we make of it will depend on our ability to recognize the full scope of the danger and just how close it is.

The conventional interpretation of the phrase “this is our time” associates it with a specific challenge facing a specific group. It is meant to indicate an auspicious moment when the group finds itself with a great opportunity. A passage that will define its character and determine its legacy.

In our case, We the People are the group in question, and the challenge is global warming and our deteriorating planet. At a time when Americans seem incapable of agreeing on just about anything, almost two-thirds of the population sees climate change as a threat. To themselves and especially to their kids and grandkids.

Despite that agreement, however, the entity on which we have traditionally relied to address such momentous challenges – our government – has been unable or unwilling to do anything significant about the crisis. So, the time has come for all of us – for Boomers and GenXers, Millennials and GenZs alike – to mobilize and address it.

That will be a formidable test to be sure. But, it’s only half the threat. Our challenge is a two-headed hydra. It’s not only a climatic crisis, it’s a technological disaster as well.

Even as horrendous weather is threatening our quality of life, high tech companies’ devil-may-care introduction of artificial intelligence is threatening the jobs and careers of every working man and woman in the country. Although this technology can benefit many aspects of their lives, almost three-quarters of American adults are now worried about its impact on their ability to find employment.

And, the government hasn’t addressed that concern either. Our Representatives and Senators seem content knowing their jobs are safe, even as millions of their constituents are tossed out of work by smart machines. It is a pandemic of indifference, so we must mobilize and deal with it as well.

But, why now? What’s so important about this moment?

According to researchers and academicians, these two challenges will intersect and merge into a single, cataclysmic point of no return – a finish line beyond which we will no longer be able to correct them. We will be stuck on a crippled planet with no way to earn a living and care for our families.

Calling this “perfect catastrophe” an existential threat is no exaggeration. And yet, that’s not the full extent of why we should be frightened. Just as terrifying as its scope is its proximity. This titanic calamity will not occur in some hazy distant future, but in less than two decades. It will happen in the year 2040.

As I explain in The Neonaissance, that’s all the time we have. If we don’t marshal our determination and talent and defeat the threat by then, we will have lost. We will have surrendered our present and future way of life. Forever.

So, this is our time. This is our chance to become the next of America’s greatest generations. Our parents and grandparents earned that title by serving as citizen-soldiers, by stepping forward to face down the forces of tyranny in World War II. We must do no less.

We the People must join the battle, not as citizen-soldiers, but as citizen-activists. We must mobilize and surmount the conjoined threats of climatic and technological abuse. No one should be exempted. All of us must be unstinting in our engagement and unyielding with our voices and our votes. Each of us must engage in civic, workplace and socio-cultural activism. We – the members of today’s generations – must be heroic.

Food for Thought,
Peter

America stands on the cusp of a new and extraordinary age, but one that we will have to earn with our individual and collective efforts. Download my free book – The Neonaissance: the New Birth of a Noble Democracy in America & the Two Mega-Crises We Must Overcome for It to Happen – to get the whole picture. Or, if you’re busy, just read the free excerpt posted here.