A Celebration!

So folks, this is post number 150 for me, believe it or not. And what a long way we've come in those 150 posts. It's been a good time overall. Some ups and downs of course, but I've enjoyed it. And now for something completely different: a post in which I make sarcastic and denigrating comments about something-or-other! Ha ha. Just kidding. I do that every other post. This post will actually have some serious thought in it, not all jokes and off-handed comments meant to create an impenetrable shield of world-weariness and savoir-faire around me so that no one ever gets to learn anything about the real me.

So. There's this tree near the bus stop at Wisconsin and Albemarle. On the west side, in front of the Best Buy. I first noticed this tree early this year, probably around February. I noticed it again last week. It's a small tree of no significant type or import. Just a tree, on a street, near a bus stop. But what has me thinking is the fact that this tree doesn't lose its leaves. Oh, it will when the new leaves start to come in in the spring, but all winter, the dead, brown, crunchy leaves will still be hanging on for dear life, refusing to let go. Of course, one can't help but see the symbology in that. What are we hanging on to that maybe we should just let go?

But that isn't really what got me thinking. What got me thinking was when we let go and embrace the changes that are occurring around the world, what will we become. What are we changing into? What will it mean to live in a world that isn't dependent on fossil fuels? What will we do when the last source of cheap labor has been exploited? What will a "post-modern" corporation look like? How can we transition away from enslavement to the almighty dollar? And what can we transition into?

I feel like we're all living on the cusp of something. What is it? I don't know, but it's down there somewhere in that unknowable abyss called "the future." Our current way of life is unsustainable, I believe. Can our way of life ever be sustainable? What does sustainable even mean? Whatever it means, things are going to change. I can feel it. And soon, I would bet. It's always darkest right before the sun comes out. Or maybe not. Maybe it's always darkest right before things go completely black.