A Message From the Future II: The Years of Repair

Have you noticed how many films depict our dark, dystopian future? It’s as if it is inevitable that we (meaning the officials we elect) will never make the right decisions to sustain the life of our only planet so that our species (humans, at least most of us) also survives. As a cynic, I believe in the darkness. I see the political parties dissuade keen minds to explore the long-term future.  Getting re-elected is all that matters. They spend over 2 years running for a 4-year post. Politics is reduced to a shallow game by media. We seem incapable of, as well as uninterested in, long-term preservation of our ecosystems and human purpose.

Never has either party committed to transforming our misery- and inequality-inducing economy into a system that cares for the majority of its people, an its  most vulnerable. Instead, the political grifters make themselves and their cronies rich (a.k.a. corruption) while ignoring the needs of the rest of us. We are left to beg for dignified sustenance from entrepreneurs and the corporations they started. Their values are antithetical to collectivism and the greater good. Does the TV show Shark Tank now reflect the “best of what we can be”?

I say all this as preamble to introduce a short film, a delightful alternative to a dark future. For the future to happen as depicted in the film, we would have to think and act big. We would have to let go of industries that are killing people and the planet. We have to stop putting the highest priority on shopping, consumerism, consumption and economic “growth.” We would redefine “work.”

The impetus for wholesale changes is the pandemic. It presents an opportunity to edit the existence we have clung to since the Industrial Revolution. We could start with a clean slate. We get a second chance.

Could we imagine it? The people can. Could “leaders” imagine it? Not likely. We the people have to demand it.

The film’s title — The Years of Repair — succinctly captures our thirst for restorative justice, for healing our self-inflicted wounds.

It will stir your creative juices. Enjoy!