Thomas Friedman wrote "The world is flat" where he observed the many benefits of globalization. One of them was the destruction of geographical hurdles and the annulment of the time-distance spectrum. I mean yes it's true that it's easy for a business man to fly to India from San Francisco for affairs, the developed world showed us how convenient it was thanks to the development of transportation. And by that I mean planes.
And then Eyjafjallajokull decided to teach us a lesson. At the second day of the eruption I was genuinely feeling bad for my friends who got stuck or whose plans were delayed because of the volcano. I am still afraid that the second eruption and the risk of another volcano erupting might even disrupt my own plans, that is to say my family visiting in two weeks or my brother going to Finland next friday. But also one thing it taught me, and I think this is what pisses the governments the most over the huge loss for airlines, is that well nope, the world is not flat. Just by seeing how Mother Nature can mess up the entire world strikes me on how unbalanced our world is. How can we say that we have been successful at developing the world and flattening it and it is a better place and that all is going to be solved, when it is so easy to witness hos fragile it actually is? A volvano erupts, big time, the entire airspace over Europe is closed, tourist and businessmen alike are stranded. But also imagine what it does to trade!!
I think it has been too easy to take everything for granted as the latest changes have happened so fast. We had financial crisis that shattered and questionned our economy but every time we were slightly able to get back in the game. This time it is something that we cannot control. No policy can prevent Eyjafjallajokull to keep on erupting just as no policy can make ashes not dangerous for planes. We have to figure it out in another way.
I am not saying I am happy this happened. I am seriously afraid of the aftermaths. But on the other hand I am quite excited to see if for once, our leaders will have learned their lesson... The world is unpredictable.
Yours truly,
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