Category: About

The Chinese name ‘猶大’ has so-just been bestowed upon me.

Anecdote: a unique feature of my ‘Western’ name (‘Jelte’): there is no correct way to pronounce it (but: there are a many incorrect ways to pronounce it)

(This assumes that one gets to set at least some of the conditions applying to the usage of ones’ name)

“Age and generation effects are often confused. Complaints of older people about “young people today” have been found on an Egyptian papyrus manuscript that is 3,000 years old. One of the oldest Greek texts preserved, Hesiod’s Works and Days, which dates towards the end of the eighth century B.C., contains a pessimistic paragraph on the new generation in which “father will have no common bond with son” and “men will dishonor parents … and will blame and criticize with cruel words””

– Hofstede, G. (2001), ‘Culture’s Consequences’, p. 35.

And where dost thou fit it?

We live in interesting times, friend. Yet, perhaps people have generally always been tempted – irrespective of time or place – to consider theirs the most exciting of times?  In any event, a case can be made that there never existed a time more… changeable.  In particular, our current age is arguably unprecedented by virtue of the rapid pace of technological change, and the concomitant access to information.  Of course, these ‘benefits’ (if that is indeed what they are) are not experienced by everyone.

Like many worriers today, people of past generations have also been hesitant to embrace change, especially after the sun passes the high noon of their lives.  The very first thing, therefore, that anyone who feels truly concerned with the effects of current ‘progress’ must ask themselves is: how do I know for sure that things are changing for the worse? Only then can one seriously go about seeking solutions.

Here, I try capture and communicate some of the trends facing our time that I have come to see as particularly worthy of attention.