Happening

This blog is so named to highlight the social, economic and personal change from large hierarchical organisations that are based on products (be they factories, banks, governments, conglomerates) are having to compete with groups of smaller more organic structures more focused on agile services and customized products. It is like the difference between a giant dinosaur and a small flying bird.

In Hong Kong where thousands have been protesting mainly by sit-in's that morphed from Occupy to the Umbrella because the over-reaction of using tear gas, batons and threat of bullets (rubber or otherwise) encouraged even stoic populace to come out. No clear leader exists although the opposing side has labeled the original planners as the evil instigators who deserve to be prosecuted.

It is clear that the government, elite and those with vested interest to uphold a closed political circle, feels threatened by the Umbrella movement. When a beast roars while being bitten by tiny ants, it is because it feels threatened even though it is possible to brush aside the annoying mass by force. Only the use of force encouraged even more annoying bites.

The use of Informatics on the Internet, on screens big and small, to conduct social discussion, open opinions, share needs and news... A consensus that changes and reacts was formed. No clear leader is needed as concepts, ideas, feelings and goals have become the adaptive message that started, fueled and transforms the group. Anyone can join or leave but the strength of combined ambition seems to have sustained a persistent intent to force change.

The birds are scaring the giant because the giant is surprised by their resolute persistence. Change is happening.

Journey

Process, paths, ways, roads, flights, change are all part of a journey. Most just want the destination. But most things in life do not really end. Though we do die as the earth will one day, life in the mean time is a journey. Yet most act and talk as if we have arrived somewhere and are contented to resist change and just hang on to what we've got.

Look at what I've achieved? We are great. We are safe. Let's just enjoy and protect what we have for what if change makes things worse?

I've met some very talented expressive people in my life. But few venture into the dangers and hardship of our personal fears to have something to write about including myself. The most valuable moments in my past have been travels where I met locals, immersed myself in their lives for a time and learned.

But everyone around me told me to settle down. A perfect job, home, church, club, leisure so as to strive to end change, get steady income and live orderly lives. I thought the ideal was for the journey to end and live a life of leisure preferably with as much money as possible.

It was not until I felt completely helpless, lost, useless, homeless, friendless and worthless, that I saw my journey again. No matter you are dirt poor or filthy rich, the personal journey continues whether in the street or in your palace.

I never understood the significance of the phrase, "I'll make straight your paths". That was because my life has pretty much been smooth sailing. I enjoyed all of it until I felt like I came to a dead-end. Kind of like platform 9 and 3/4's in Harry Potter, there is a choice of finding something that will make do or face the wall. Even if you can't run into it like the story, maybe break it down, dig a tunnel...

I tried all the ways I knew to find a way forward. People, recruiters, web posting, knocking on doors, searching around the world, more connections, universities, companies, experts, mentors, everything I knew. But all doors were closed after interviews, potential leads, conversations with CEOs and powerful people...

In the end, the wall turned into a door. The path was made straight. Some will say the journey is starting again. But it never stopped even when I thought I was stagnating, even when the doors are locked. And I am a changed man. Saved.

Opaque

Cultures are the gems of humanity. It's a pity most dare not venture outside the one into which they were born. There are infinite shades of creativity, resourcefulness and expressiveness.

For each of these wonderful traits that are essential for success in this technological age, require transparency, honesty and an even playing field. At least the always connected media makes hiding secrets difficult. A leak becomes a flood in an instant.

The past is the greatest burden for anyone to move forward. It was always true personally. In less open times, authority could survive by planning in secret and then present an orchestrated facade. The uneducated or illiterate and those who lack curiosity, could easily be controlled. What is broadcast or printed most be real right?

The millennial generation is not like that. To use smart devices, the most skillful are curious and literate. This is carrying over to how they perceive reality. The older generation who don't use the devices in the same way will have a hard time relating to the world view that has never existed in such common and continuous form.

Even those who have been using computers since they were created were used to turning them of. They saw them as technology and tools which have become essential enablers of quality living.

Millennials take openess for granted. They will demand transparency.
The opacity of governments which were used to controlling the media is facing a tide of demand for people to face history and the future.

A few places are still highly controlled. Maybe new technology will surface that will allow some to centralize media control again. For time being the tide has turned to a mass expectation for open, transparent and honest society. Even opacity is not clear enough.

Master

"The Help" is a bitter sweet movie. Great acting, well written, beautiful production but so many heart wrenching scenes where the words "master" might as well have been used. But it was not publicly said even in the 1960's. Yet in 2014, I read an editorial that called the protests in Hong Kong angering their "masters".

I wonder how many people believe a government is their people's master. Today I saw a discussion about North Korea, a more oppressive regime than just about anywhere. It was mentioned that even being oppressed can feel normal.

In "Shawshank Redemption" Morgan Freeman's character almost killed himself because incarceration seemed more normal to him than not knowing what to do each day.

I hope the older generation in power who has the option to master us, will learn to love our youth by setting them free. This way they will take up their own future, with honesty, faith and confidence finding real social peace and stability that is built from within our lives, and not imposed from without.

Even though Sting sang about love between 2 people this verse in "If you love somebody, set them free" seems to talk about the current Chinese obsession with money over freedom.

"You can't control an independent heart
Can't tear the one you love apart
Forever conditioned to believe that we can't live
We can't live here and be happy with less
So many riches
So many souls
With everything we see that we want to possess"

Currents

If you're a big dinosaur, the flow of wind and water is not so important because your size demands a lot of effort to propel you. Birds survive by how the wind blows because they are small enough to be carried far and wide by it.

Life is often a choice between size and mobility. Big establishments and those whose position rests on them like to protect their status. In society and nature, currents are the instruments of change that even the most solid structure yield to over time. The grand canyon was carved out by the flow of water. Social change comes by currents in thought and behavior.

Watching what is happening in Hong Kong's protests is a lesson in the contrasts of the establishment and currents, as the big strong institutions that exist are challenged by new currents. Those who live on the stability of the size and tradition feel threatened by the opinion and action that is flowing. It is easy for might to trump thought.

Before the internet and devices, movements centered on obvious display of showmanship and broadcast media. They still help, but the current itself that is flowing underneath the actions are also more visible now on social media.

Conviction and organisation shared online has reduced the need for expensive shows and elaborate productions. Spontaneity and resourcefulness using connection tools is proving elusive for the authorities and those who hide behind them.

I think the display of strength, shouting, attacks and divisions are all distractions. Analysts and opinions often focus just on such noise thinking they are reflect what is going on in hearts and minds.

Since the world is shaped by currents, I prefer to fly with them rather than rest on the structures they make. This connected world makes the currents much more transparent. There is little excuse to ignore them even if you don't agree. The wise will make use of obvious flow of thought and feelings that is right there on our screens.

Ridiculum

Although the stakes and emotion are high, the many events that led to the current occupy movement in Hong Kong are best described as ridiculum. Even the state of blocked roads, exaggerated responses, lack of dialog, no overt support for the leader who is effectively locked up in his government mansion, the divide between those who think any protest is chaos and the view that it's a method of change, using triads, misuse of data, avoiding the issues, blaming the US, blaming China....

It's a series of ridiculous events that blew up due to the often mistaken strategy of using force to tame the heart. Many forget that institution is never sacred. The human spirit and our aspirations made them.

It is ridiculous that manmade systems such as countries, schools, religious institutions, companies are effectively revered and even worshiped by using them as immovable center of our lives. We depend on  establishment to give us order and security, forgetting they are compromised in that just as they shield us, they also limit us.

That is why there is usually a generational divide. Older people are comfortable with establishment while youth want to remove some limits. It all comes down to who holds the power.

The more centralized and closed the power, the temptation is to avoid divulging it. Because there is no incentive to share power, control is more convenient than dialogue.

Democracy is now a misused word. It has come to mean too many different forms of establishment. So I'll avoid using it.

A competitive, vibrant group of educated connected people are common now. They can choose how to enjoy, learn, earn in ways never before possible. All this points to a need for decentralized power, better communication, faster responses.

Call it what you want. The silliest news is that a dialogue with the students was offered and took a week to set up.

What's so hard about having a chat?

Refresh

The weather report usually calls rain bad weather. In French "beau" (beautiful) is the word for sunny skies. But rain feel's beautiful this lunch time.

Drought makes it so. No Hong Kong has had enough rainfall but not enough honesty and thirst for truth. For near-term gains and consolation, many chose to forget that truth is life.

Slaves may have enough to eat but only so they can work. Freedom is meaningful only if we find who we are and express ourselves fully with those we love. That is the truth we all seek.

Our governments are compromised by an imperfect system run like an outdated industrial factory. Change was hard for fabrication plants because capital equipment is expensive and hard to replace. So we were and still are trained to optimize our lives for fixed schedules, production lines, becoming cog-like because decisions are assumed to be  centralize for the good of the mechanistic organisation.

To fit the mold many feel the need to forgo "unrealistic" dreams. Even if this is true in many places still, it is more because the powerful are also used to running life and work and society like industrial factories. Even in the digital age of Informatics (or IT), even the technology companies that are running things are still stuck in organisations that only know how to become big and mechanical (rather than deepen collaborative quality and grow more like organisms in Nature).

Informatics (which is a better word than Information Technology or IT because the focus is no longer the technology but what and how expression is realized) should be used to reorganize, revalue and re-prioritize our lives. Organisations that don't actually make physical products should no longer be run like they are manufacturers.

For people are not machines. What is needed is a Refresh. Reboot. Reprogram.

Any change is hard because the outcome is unpredictable and habits often become tradition which in turn become standards or even law. It is also much easier to think, "everyone is entitled to their own opinion as long as it agrees with mine."

To think this way and refuse to hear the opinion of others is precisely the habit of the mechanistic organisation.

In Hong Kong, I don't think much will change today due to the week long civil movement for demographic reform. Tomorrow I don't know.

Besides the clash of the state vs the individual, the change towards democratic discussion has begun. The civil organisation, political intelligence, communication en mass, are all skills displayed by the protesters.

Incidentally these are all skills needed in developing a more organic, Informatics based organisation and growth. The refresh, reboot and reprogram have already begun.

The rain and wind that inspired this post has passed. The Sun is out.