"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage." --Sir Alex Fraser Tyler (1742-1813) Scottish jurist and historian

This quote really impacted me and I wanted to share it with you. Are we doomed to repeat this progression? And if this is the actual progression of great civilizations, where are we in the process?

If this is an accurate representation, it seems as a society we've moved past bondage and spiritual faith as concepts that define us. Some would argue this as they truly believe their lives are based on faith. I would also suggest that we've moved past courage and liberty though, again, there are those, politicians, who believe or at least suggest, that we're in the midst of it (despite a very strong impulse of some to take away our liberties).

We are an abundant nation for some. We are also a physically abundant nation as evidenced by the national obesity epidemic.

My fear is that the masses have moved into selfishness and complacency, and really nearing, if not already totally on board with, apathy. How else have our bridges begun to collapse? How else have our civil liberties begun to erode dramatically? How else have we allowed New Orleans, an American city, to become scarier than a third world country?

We've also become dependent, that's for sure. Look at how we've outsourced many jobs to India and China for cheaper foreign labor. What about our dependence on foreign oil? That seems to have presented a few problems for us in the last few years.

There's a lot of talk about illegal immigrants nowadays. The middle/working class careers which used to provide a family with a living wage, health insurance, the ability to buy a house and two cars, put your kids through college, and have a pension for retirement. . . these jobs are a thing of the past. These are being outsourced to be performed somewhere else for a fraction of the price and with no safety or environmental restrictions.

And if that wasn't enough dependence, how about that dependence on foreign oil? To quote my children during long road trips, "Are we there yet?" Are we on borrowed time as far as the imminent return to bondage is concerned? We've gone over the 200 years by 31 years now. China? I'm looking at you.

What do you think? Are we past the point of no return? Have I stirred you up? Ready to reframe this and explore a different perspective? Drop me a line at www.maxpersuasion.com.