The Beauty of the Turmoil in Japan and the Middle East

It's a weird juxtaposition. What you say? The way the circles of reality lay themselves out in your mind, jostling for position and authority.

We look out at the wider world and see two rather momentous events happening simultaneously: the spread of revolution across Arab states, and the spread of radiation and nuclear instability across Japan. Both events will reshape modern life... are reshaping modern life. Our gas prices are rising, causing us here in the States to rethink our overall energy strategy. Obama's speech today at Georgetown University proposed a cut in foreign oil dependence, and an increase in both domestic oil reliance and energy diversification. Here, within two very different world situations, the common elements are danger, energy and opportunity.

Danger lies in the potentiality that none of the revolutions across Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya will ultimately lead to democratic nations. Ridding the world of dictators does not rid the world of men with ambitious, cunning dictatorial hearts. And in Japan, the patient and gallant response to massive destruction--last tally, 27, 652 dead or missing (Bloomberg)--does not begin to answer the questions that are being asked as miniscule traces of contamination begin to show up in odd places.

One really does not want to get caught debating the merits of energy policy when people are fighting and dying for freedom (across Arabia) or trying to recover from a tsunami and its inflicted derivations in Japan. And yet energy is a major player in how these societies will evolve when they are finished... evolving. Will nuclear in Japan prove so damaging that people begin to seek to rely on alternatives? Will the contamination effect trade and the products that Japan excels at producing? Energy touches everything, everywhere. In the Arab lands, energy can fund freedom or dictatorship, driving policy and relationships.

The beauty of the turmoil lies in the opportunity for change. It takes a shakeup to reach down into the mind and energize it in a way where it recalculates the possibilities. So long as you are guided by the status quo, with nothing pressing or pushing or seeming to fall apart, the human mind will not normally flex itself. It's during these moments of extreme danger when everything is shaken that the mind finds new foundations to build upon.