I was listening to the radio this morning they day after the death of one of the twentieth centuries true heroes, a sad day; and I was left thinking of today.
In a world ruled by men in grey suits where the only rational is maximizing the profit of the few no matter what the human and environmental cost. We seem to be suffering a hangover from the colossi of the past, both good and horribly evil.
However we don't lack for powerful men who at a stroke of a pen make or break the lives of millions we just don't see them on a day to day basis. These hidden barons only come to our attention when they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar or are on course to wreck the global economy. We then either slap them on the wrist or bail them out.
Our governments could either be seen as weak and feeble or complicit in a system designed to benefit the few. Rampant increases of productivity with stagnating wages with poverty and unemployment the threat for most, unless you have a golden parachute that is.
In a world where individualism is promoted as strength and collective bargaining is only for the richest; it's not as if we lack for fertile ground for greatness of thought. It just seems that any ideas that run contrary to the common wisdom are crushed at birth by waves of concern from serious people, yet; the problems continue to grow.
Perhaps it is fear of "great" men in the past or even a fear of an ideology that runs contrary to the common wisdom that we have the best that a flawed system can give that prevents any real change. If we keep patching the system with temporary fixes it will turn out alright in the end.
As we see infrastructure crumble, social policies trampled, inequality rampant, corrupt and or feeble governments blossom as we continue to ravage the planet, there is fertile ground for a new way forward.
However:
Today I will mourn the passing of probably the greatest man of the last century.
All my love to the people of South Africa, may his vision hold firm.
Some of his words at his trial in 1964
"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
"But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Nelson Mandela