Each journey starts at the end of one and leads into yet another. A coming together of pathways that takes you through doorways on to highways that stretch into the horizon. The journey we are on is a collective movement of souls through a tempest that blows in all manner of good, bad, pretty and ugly. It’s a journey fraught with all manner of leviathans that rise up from the ocean of humanity, as if to strike with impunity. And in order to confront and challenge the beast, we need to acquaint ourselves with all aspects of it.
With a beast as slippery as modern society, the approach to adopt is perhaps one of cautious optimism. While progress is a necessary part of the process, at what price is it being undertaken? And at what speed are we comfortable to hurtle along?
This was perhaps the indirect concern voiced at STORM The Planet.STORM’s second anniversary leadership forum saw a lively gathering assemble on Sentosa at the outstanding Capella Singapore to air their views on what we coined “The New 5 Cs”. It was obviously a topic that many in the audience felt motivated to discuss. The new Cs included character, community, consumerism, communication and culture. Other Cs were tossed into the mix by the end of the evening’s discussion. But if you think about it, these aren’t exactly new Cs.
They are somewhat forgotten Cs that have been swept aside by the newer “old” Cs of cash, car, condo, club and credit card. In our headlong quest to be many things to many people for the sake of progress, we’ve forgotten what it is to be true to ourselves as part of a community that is less about “me” and more about “us”. About collective actions as opposed to polarised notions. Is it time to hit that pause button, take a step back and evaluate what it is that makes us who we are’. How do we re-humanise ourselves? Do we like who we are becoming? Is the company we keep actually in sync with our own belief systems? Do we rest too easily, perhaps on a bed of delusion that a few “good” men will sort things out? Well, don’t count on them. Not unless you start doing something about it yourself.
Individuals have to actively question the motives of systems that rumble on regardless. Enough resistance could yield a result that helps steer the course of our lives in a direction that delivers a semblance of equilibrium that can be personally satisfying and serve the greater good.
Kannan Chandran
Publisher/Editor
