The time is 10:25, the date is February 21st. My mind, just like my dimly lit room, is a chaotic mess, and my focus is nearly nonexistent. As I pace around to keep myself busy and occupied while my head attempts to reorganize itself and rid itself of disorder, I begin to realize the importance of this time, of this date. It will be the only February 21st the year 2017 will ever see, and itâs the first one to ever occur. This was the first and last 10:25 of February 21st, 2017, and it will stay so for eternity. Itâs a fleeting moment, a literal once-in-a-lifetime event. Itâs unique, special, one of a kind. But  to most, itâs meaningless; this specific date holds no value to them, it wonât be remembered without some kind of special event or occurrence borrowing its time span. In the eyes of the future, today is just another day, just as the following days will be.
This is whatâs on my mind, whatâs tearing me apart; this is whatâs always on everyoneâs minds: the future. To some, the future seems immensely bright with good fortune, to others, the future is dark with the flickering light of nuclear warfare still fresh in their minds now being rekindled by a state of immense political instability, and to those who have succumbed to the seduction of modern nihilism, it doesnât quite matter at all. And if Iâm being quite honest, none of them are completely wrong in their predictions.
As I glance over at a recent writing medal I received, I canât help but first think of the future of journalism and media as a whole. These have been transformed by a desire for adaptation that has arisen quite recently, a desire for adaptation that has been caused in no small part by the rise of social media. Twitter, facebook, and snapchat have dominated society and culture now, and shaped a growing generation by connecting the world through wires and monitors. Despite this, it has all but destroyed our concept of what is conventional news. This has led to the rise of journalism as a means of self-expression, but it has also led to the rise of a cesspool of cultural waste. Weâve reached a point in which weâre expected to get viable news from the same website that has posted well over 70 âarticlesâ on Disney princesses, which should seem like an absolutely insane prospect, an absolutely absurd expectation that wouldnât be followed or adopted in the slightest. Yet, despite the absurdity of it all, many flock to sites like buzzfeed for their main source of news, going past any phase of normalization and bluntly encouraging this behavior to occur. This is only the beginning of the end for our past concepts of journalism and news, and itâs only fitting that it would occur at the rise of technological communication.
Now letâs talk about war. Living after the events of the cold war, the idea of war itself has changed drastically for me in comparison to those who lived during and before them. The threat of nuclear war is now not only possible, but probable. Bombs capable of destroying the world multiple times over are present worldwide, often in the hands of those who, given the circumstances, would use them. Couple this with a worldwide state of political unrest and two ill-tempered world leaders pitted against each other and we have ourselves a faithful reenactment of the cold war where the leading actor has the capability to easily set the climax of the plot into motion with a simple tweet. A new war, a terrifying, modern war, is very close. The only question now is how long do we have left, and what will become of us when the time finally comes and death hangs above our front door?
The horrors of both of these subjectsâ futures boil down to one thing: technology. With advancements in this, our lives have become both more convenient and threatening. From the Manhattan projectâs nuclear generators to Bill Gatesâs home computer, every advancement has led us closer to our own eventual demise. Now the sci-fi concepts of self-learning AI and social robots have jumped off the page and are becoming actual issues that we as a society must address. Human-pig hybrids and head transplants are now being seen as the future of medicine, and the fear of losing your job to a robot has crept into the minds of millions. Evolution has always come at a price, but weâre starting to run out of ways to pay our debt off. I only fear that someday soon weâll have to pay it, one way or another, and the loan sharks weâll meet for this exchange will be anything but pleasant.
To put it simply: weâre in trouble in a lot of ways. How you look at the future doesnât necessarily matter. What matters is what youâre going to do about that vision. Whether youâre a pessimist, optimist, or nihilist. I urge you to do all you can to ensure that we do not let our fears become a reality, to ensure that the future not only exists, but is bright. Even if you believe the future doesnât matter, at least do it so that you can ensure not only comfort and stability for yourself, but for millions. I believe that Auden was right to say, âWe must love one another and die,â because in all honesty, the end of all cannot be stopped, but merely postponed, and in a situation such as this, procrastination should prevail over punctuality.
