Do you ever just have an idea that gets stuck in your mind like a splinter in your skin?  My splinter for the day is revolving around the idea of desensitization and the aspects of it. 

As of late, I have been noticing things that I wouldn’t have noticed months before. I am suddenly curious as to why I have these slight mind shifts from one perspective to another.

One thing you will discover through my one-sided conversation with you is that I 1.) am obsessed with self-growth. 2.) am completely infatuated with people and how we all coexist. and 3.) do not necessarily have a concrete ideal.

With all of this in mind I think some important things come with self-growth and how you recognize it. With my own self, I notice growth by how I perceive aspects of my life. One day I think this and the next I have a pivotal idea steer me in the polar opposite direction. Though such changes may seem weak and fluid, I don't think so. If you have ideas substantiated by fact and passion, you are not one of the weak and fluid minded—one who goes with whatever notion comes along. Growth to me is seeing different perspectives and understanding occurrences through a changing lens.

Which brings me to the topic of discussion for Thorn, that is, occurrences seen in different lights. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been noticing a topic on the news that I cannot let go—The Hawaii Warning!! So what’s this? A place that brings in 1.4 million tourists a year had a Cold War Era PTSD shock as a nuclear warning siren went off on the island of Oahu early this year. Hawaii had recently brought Cold War Nuclear Siren tactics back into action due to possible threats from North Korea. With tensions high and several minds astray, even a simple sign of nuclear attack could scare even the strongest man in the class. Understandably, due to the aftermath of the Atomic bombings in Japan, some politicians have tried to abandon the idea of nuclear war while others strive for that power—power lying within a push of the button or a nod of the head. Having such power would inherently put an individual in stress, but also puts a society in a state of havoc.

Imagine all of the residents of Hawaii, all the tourists that lounge on Waikiki, all the soldiers stationed on bases--imagine a plethora of people enjoying their day in the sun, living their daily lives on their home island. Think about how your day relates to theirs. You wake up, go to work or school, call your mother to report something exciting, you complain about your coworkers to a friend or loved one. As if your daily life were permanent and constant like a metaphor plateau, comfortable. Can you imagine something going really wrong governmentally? Like a nuclear bomb headed towards your home, your vacation spot, your daily life. Of course not. You might ponder the idea hypothetically, but you don't get the fear, the adrenaline rush. Imagine a threat that could replay history tenfold, a threat that could destroy your daily life, your home, your entire community. Whether the warning was an accident or not, the fear within a group could turn them from individuals to a herd, instantly. A peaceful day to a day where so many recorded what they thought to be their last words. Whether the threat was real or not, something must be said about a group's reaction to something so terrifying.

You’re probably thinking to yourself, “What in the world does self-growth have to do with a nuclear siren accident?” Especially in a society completely engulfed in what Toffler calls the "third wave" (the communications revolution), we have become desensitized to death, murder from small to grand scales. We don’t, as a people, grasp that the strife around us could actually affect us— the only exception is it directly affects you. The desensitization leads to a sublime ignorance of political topics and events that seems narcissistic to the core, but in reality, stems more from the fact that we now live in a world with so much information at our fingertips we suffer from a mind gap, the gap from headline to reality. Ultimately, that’s where self-growth flourishes. I think about how people are living their daily lives one minute and in seconds a group of humans becomes a flock of sheep trying to run away from a threat, to no avail (if the threat were real). The chaos and anxiety arising in one location put many politicians on their toes with thoughts of preparedness, civilians on their toes thinking about total obliteration, and the people in power with Cheshire grins seeing how they can control the public, even in other countries.

Normally, I would have read the headline and moved from one topic to the next because I am desensitized to most of the topics thrown at me. But the idea that a normal day could be my last because of a power struggle between two countries is an idea that fills me with fear and rage. The fact that our global society holds forums about nuclear defense and only discusses topical rationales strikes fear in me due to the obvious fact that no one is trying to permanently prevent catastrophe nor is there any agreement about how to do that. Having people in power who throw out comments about having a larger button to shoot more nuclear missiles is a game of Russian roulette (no pun intended). Having someone in power who is actively threatening to use nuclear weapons is a notion that simply can never be justified in my mind.

Self-growth led me to think about a topic that is one of the most sensitive--a threat to my survival. I wanted to share my experience with you because we all need to use a different lens to find a new perspective about nuclear weapons, and this same process can help with many aspects of our lives. Whatever side of the spectrum you are on, we one can learn from another, but only if we are in the right mind frame, rejecting the lust for power, suppressing our pride, and being open to growth.

Thoughts of Thorn.