XI.27.2018 - Being Human...Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit
The past 7-10 days have been a mix of positive and negative, mind boggling changes for us homo sapiens on a scale ranging from outer space to national borders to shakeups in traditional industry.
NASA celebrated a risk-laden mission to Mars when the 
Insight Lander settled on a flat surface at five mph after traveling 300 million miles for close to seven months at 12,300 mph — great braking system. InSight will help scientists penetrate some of the red planet’s secrets and provide evidence about Earth’s origin story. Elon Musk, the inscrutable, billionaire, genius Tesla CEO, has declared that he is prepared to live on Mars and I’m sure that his Board is already packing for him. NASA delivered an inspiring story about human ingenuity and scientific curiosity at the same time that the American administration launched tear gas against Central American men, women and children who were seeking refuge and, ironically, safety in the United States.
I’m not going to mention the name of the man in the White House because Jim Carrey is doing a fine job skewering POTUS through his political cartoon images. The latest poll has the POTUS at record disapproval levels of 60%. But with his racist ramp-up to the 2018 mid-terms and over 6,000 lies since inauguration that have been fact-checked by the Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale, why isn’t American outrage reflected in a much higher disapproval level? Just as he led the birther conspiracy story against President Obama, the POTUS is now leading the attack on science by denying climate change and its devastating impacts that we are already experiencing in the increased frequency and intensity of fires and storms — globally.
Sorry, there is more bad news. General Motors announced the closure of five of their plants in North America, including the assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario. The loss of more than 15,000 jobs is just the beginning of the massive “reset” that GM is undergoing to remain competitive in electric and autonomous vehicles. GM Canada was formed literally on the production platform of a buggy shop in the late 19th century and, 100 years later, the company must change or die.
Henry Ford paid auto workers more than market hourly rates so employees could buy the cars that they were making. That approach was adopted by Chrysler and GM so they could recruit workers. During the past century, unions helped the workers keep pace with the cost of living and protected their health through comprehensive benefits that included generous pension packages. Unfortunately, the symbiotic relationship between worker and company has ended for thousands of GM workers, executives, engineers as well as the people working for companies that were part of the GM supply chain. GM is not the the canary in the coal mine when it comes to signaling the end of traditional industry. That bird has been dead for a long time.
There are many more stories that unfolded in the past week or so and, frankly, most are not very positive — thanks to the 24/7 news cycle that inundates our screens. When the human condition gets you down, look up to Mars and be inspired by our gobsmacking accomplishments and remember the humbling words from Pink Floyd’s Learning to Fly: “[I am] tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit.”