Building And Breaking Life's Dams


Man has invented many useful things that assist life on earth.

For some, life has been made easier due to innovation.

Consider the invention of the wheel and how that idea continues to be replicated into newer things.

Perhaps shortly after the wheel, someone made something which can be affixed to a pair of wheels, allowing for heavier things to be pushed or pulled around.

In due time, animals were used to pull yet heavier loads...and bigger and arguably better achievements were realized by humans.

We now have mechanized motion with a possibility that one day all animals may be retired from labor.

Even the wheel has the possibility of being retired with the invention of magnetic rails and newer technologies.

Yet, with almost every new idea or thing man comes up with, there seems to almost always be a negative consequence...or several.

Let's take the idea of a dam.

Dams have existed for thousands of years.

As the centuries passed, the use of dams have brought about great agricultural growth and other positives.

Because of a dam and redirecting water flow, cities were built and people began living closer rather than along a river.

Read a historical summary of several civilizations regarding water flow, dams and irrigation systems here.

The ability to increase water volume at a particular location benefited those who lived near and upstream from the dam.

What about people who lived further downstream?

There are several outcomes causing detriment [please click and read] to humans, animals and the ecosystem to those who are not benefitting from a dam.

I wonder if dams may have contributed to some places becoming desert wastelands, or regions where droughts would become a constant.

Maybe I'm exaggerating, or maybe all things are connected even in a fragmented / insignificant way.

The same scenario regarding dams can be juxtaposed or compared to other parts of our lives and situations on earth.

Consider the manner politics have played out throughout history.

Water is an increasingly political issue.

Notice how the wealth of some individuals has a tendency to influence politics and a society's value set.

Even the opinion of a wealthy person, never mind the manner they acquired their wealth or what they are actually proficient in, is like a dam that stops up the flow of rationality and critical thinking...or consideration towards other human beings.

When the entire world economy crashed (or as some say experienced a 'recession') in 2008-2009 and credit ceased being issued (lending of money stopped for a time), only very few people and businesses received preferential treatment with new loans to assist them towards solvency or to continue functioning...and the mass majority suffered and lost a great deal.

The bubble that deflated was for many a shocking realization that a dam was recently erected and the water ceased flowing as had before.

It's a great idea to build a dam when you are going to be nurtured from that effort, or your wealth will exponentially increase due to such an effort.

It is difficult to argue against life's dams when you and almost everyone you know is enjoying such an abundance of water.

Life has a way of teaching us about things and ideas we build, while the cost of such valuable machinations of mankind is typically paid by other people and nature in the long run.

Sometimes, the things that somehow break the natural flow of things, water in the case of a dam and credit in the case of economic fraud, is easy to justify while ignoring, minimizing or being ignorant of the detrimental affects.

When those downstream show up to complain to the dam people, the dam people may have a difficult time conceiving what the fuss is all about when they've been swimming in deep waters where a shallow river once flowed.

Those downstream, now having a mud stream carrying little to no nutrients, do not have the ability to invent another water source for themselves.

They now have some hard choices to make, usually from a list of limited options.

The choices are not always easy (move towards another flowing river, move nearer to the dam, fight the dam people, dig a well, or something else).

Be sure not to be one of the dam people unless your dam idea is absolutely without liability or a detriment to the natural world (human, animal and earth).

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