How can I help you?

 Today we live in a world online. A world where we can hide behind our screens
and devices. We can accept or decline invitations, contacts and communications, even from our own family members.

There was a time, not so long ago, when people were so isolated, that any stranger passing through their village, hamlet or farm, was welcomed with a warm meal, a cup of ale or ten, and a place to sleep.

Literacy only became the global average in the late 20th century. In 1900, about 79% of the world's pop. was illiterate; in 1960, about 64%. In 2015, basic literacy stood at about 86%.

So strangers, travelers and merchants were always welcomed, because they often brought knowledge and news from afar or about events in neighboring villages. Up until the 1600s the average peasant of mid adult age, knew about as much as could be contained in one single newspaper. Much of it, superstition and folklore.

But one thing made them better than we are today, and that thing was honour. In every culture honour, or honor as American English spells it, was paramount. Scoundrels thieves and murderers were few and far between. Although the average human got by with much less than we, the modern city or town folk have today, and often worked a much longer day- for a pittance, they were more satisfied with their lot and relationships were of far greater value than material goods.

When I was a child for example, we had one telephone in our home and no TV. When we did eventually get a TV, I was about seven years old. It was black and white and broadcast (nothing good) for about four hours a day, tops. Those of you who were around back then, will remember the test pattern, when Technicolor came out a few years later and how the family would leave the TV on from around five in the evening, waiting for the broadcast to begin. Usually the news was first, "with Riaan Cruywagen". The man who never aged.

Today we have far less regard for friendships, marriage, even our relationships with our children ... and strangers are dangers. We imagine ourselves far more knowledgeable even though the average so called educated person can retain about 1 Gig of real knowledge at most.

What happens to us in this 'process of evolution?' We have certainly not become more civilized. The global society has eroded our cultural honour. We are much ruder, short tempered and worse at managing real relationships that last. Sure the corporate culture has brain washed many into thinking that they are 'oh so sophisticated', but much of it is a superficial template. A regurgitated monkey-see-monkey-do, legal gauntlet approach where, if you don't fit in, you're simply left out. Without empathy.

Democracy and 'rights' (ironic) has proven just how terrible we can be, as trolls on social media and in a mass, reminiscent of the pitch fork mobs of Medieval Europe. Only worse.

On one of Zac Efrons Netflix travel shows recently, ( I forget the name as it probably exceeds my 1G storage) a manager at a eco-village coined a phrase, speaking about managing the human waste of the hippy like inhabitants who chose to buy a remote property and live 'off the grid', who said: " find the solution in the problem."

So how can we, living in the real world ' or what's left of it, and find the solution in the problem?' The social problem that, like a dormant volcano, could erupt at any moment and change or end normal life overnight. Now before the global lock down, which no sane person could have even imagined could happen, this idea would have been far less believable. But today it is a clear and present possibility.

My over sensitive shamanic spirit tells me to - slow down. Take time to listen to other people, no matter how deluded they may seem. No matter how old, or young, educated or not, stranger or friend, or toxic family. Give a little of your time, not to do the talking but to listen. When a friend or social media request appears, think how can I find a solution to this problem. How can I help them.

The one thing I've taught my kids religiously, is kindness. Be kind to everyone religiously. If someone disagrees with your opinion or is trying to sell you something, you don't have to buy, but don't block them or decline their contact. That is no solution to social skills. Learn to listen. Probe them, give real objections, and see how they handle them. Be humane and just talk to them and in so doing, they may learn something from you, or God forbid, you may just learn something from them.