THE IMPOSSIBLE IS THE FUTURE: 1950-2000, a staggeringly life-changing and human transforming period in modern history

” The fast food restaurant is convenient for a quick meal, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on!“– Echoes from the past

Yet most of the developments which today enhanced what we now describe as TH HUMAN INDEX were considered by many not only unimaginable but IMPOSSIBLE. The list below captures the essential dramas  of that patch of our lives.

 In all these we have the Western European North American MIND,a phenomenon that has for six centuries created a MODERNITY unprecedented in pushing the boundary of human control and management of nature and the universe to extremely useful limits.

  At the same time we must begin to show concern for the total absence of the AFRICAN MIND on the platform of creativity except as LOCUSTS WHO CONSUME BUT PRODUCE NOTHING.  WE STAND IN AWE BEFORE THIS CAPACITY OF THE WENA (Western Europe/North America)  TO THINK THE UNTHINKABLE AND DO THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE.

   On a lighter note ,is that Elvis getting a haircut for 30 cents? African Americans, and now 300 million of their continental famil, playing, singing and dancing away on $1/day, oil-producing Nigerians still earning $2/barrel on their crude (or how do you explain the poverty and deprivation in that country) …THESE ARE IMPOSSIBILITIES THAT CAN’T MAKE A GOOD FUTURE.

For Africa and Africans, the surest way to get on the creativity platform and a brighter future is through THINKING THE IMPOSSIBLE…..THINKING.

Mo kun fope o.  tao

Yes, you are correct.  It is Elvis getting a haircut; the impersonators were not yet in Vegas!  TOLA.

Never thought I could survive the high cost of living.

Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter?

If they raise the minimum wage
to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.

When I first started driving, who
would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon? Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage.

I’m afraid to send my kids to the
movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.

I read the other day where some
scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas .

Did you see where some baseball
player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the President.

I never thought I’d see the day
all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They’re even making electric typewriters now.

It’s too bad things are so tough
nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.

It won’t be long before young
couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.

I’m afraid the Volkswagen car
is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.

Thank goodness I won’t live to
see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government.

The fast food restaurant is
convenient for a quick meal, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.

There is no sense going on short
trips anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel.

No one can afford to be sick
anymore. At $15.00 a day in the hospital, it’s too rich for my blood.

If they think I’ll pay 30 centsfor a haircut, forget it.

Know any friends who would get a kick out of these, pass this on!

UNFORTUNATELY. like most chain mails, I could not get the originator(s) of these.  TOLA.

FOOTNOTE

“An impossibility” less-than a decade ago at Ibadan, Nigeria, is today an industry that has attracted international brand like KFC!

Here is a personal who-will-patronize-fast-food from the realm of won’t-happen that a friend and I predicted when Mr. Bigg’s, a McDonald-type came to Ibadan where I live in Nigeria some years ago.  The discussion was in Yoruba but here’s the English translation:

Bimbo:  Auntie, I understand it’s Mr. Bigg’s that is renovating that house at New Bodija.  [The chain was already up and running in Lagos and, I think, Abuja]

Me:       What?  A fast food in Ibadan! [The city may be populated by millions but it really is not THAT KIND of place; more like a bucolic humongous “town”.

Bimbo:  I’m giving them three months before – this has to be first in Yoruba – ti nwon ma ko ‘gba s’ile – they pack their cooking utensils and leave!  It’s drab in English.

Me:      Ah, I’ll give them 6 months!

In the less-than ten years since the first Mr. Bigg’s arrived Ibadan, the chain now has perhaps a dozen, and many have joined, including national (Tantalizer) and International chains (KFC) in the same town.

 

FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013. 1:24:59 a.m. [GMT]