A friendly safety reminder

Are your tweets safe? No.

Are your photos safe? No.

Are your MP3s safe? No.

Are your television shows safe? No.

Are your documents safe? No.

Are your passwords safe? No.

Are your computers safe? No.

Is your job safe? No.

Is your health safe? No.

Are your loved ones safe? No.

Is your money safe? No.

Is your neighborhood safe? No.

Are you safe to drive? No.

Are your investments safe? No.

Is the future safe? No.

Should we therefore panic? No.

In order to feel safe, things need to be permanently fixed in space and time. Isolated from the effects of time, change, evolution, adaptation, shifting environments, shifting priorities, weather, moods, economics, ecosystems, new information, and any outside influence.

In order to make something safe, it needs to be plucked out of the universe and placed in a perfectly contained jar where nothing can ever touch it again. What is that state called? Death. Separation from everything that it means to be alive. We want to protect the things we love, but sometimes the desire to protect and shelter results in not allowing the things we love to live.

Being alive is equivalent to being unsafe. To be part of the world, to bend in the wind, to learn from mistakes, to play, to experiment, to strive to grow in the midst of risk, difficulty, and limited time and resources.

“To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest, in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet.” - Alan Watts

Let your breath out.

Let yourself change. Let others change. Let companies change. Let governments change. Let philosophies change. Embrace the insecurity of not knowing if your favorite thing today will be exactly the same tomorrow. It too needs to change, that’s the only way it has a chance to be your (or anybody’s) favorite thing tomorrow.