One Moment in Time

Two hundred thirty million years ago, the earth saw its first dinosaurs.
Sixty million years ago, the last dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Approximately.

Give or take a few thousand years, a few million years, that's all.

Two thousand years ago?  Christianity was new and Islam was eight hundred years out of sight.

One hundred years ago?  They hadn't yet found oil in this part of the world.

Forty four years ago?  The United Arab Emirates became a confederacy.

My life?  A mere forty-one years.  I may feel middle-aged, but my life has been but a blip.

This world of cars and planes and electric lights and iPhones has been just a blip.

For over one hundred fifty million years, different dinosaurs walked in these parts.
They have become the oil that fuels our cars and planes and electric lights and iPhones.
They have become the plastic in our bags and raincoats and water bottles.

We are but one moment in time.

Today, I went to the Heritage Museum in Abu Dhabi.  There, I saw snippets of a life that was, here in what used to be a desert society.

Now, there are huge skyscrapers filled with apartments and stores, everywhere you can see.  For thousands of years, back to Mesopotamian days, there were desert dwellings like the ones you see below.  Different materials were used for different times of year and different locations, depending on needs and availability.

For some, the area was perfect for life due to the Gulf, which provided opportunities for fishing and trade.  For others, the desert life allowed for nomadic existence, from oasis to oasis.

Now, this society benefits from the Gulf for trade and for the oil rigs that are available off shore.  The Gulf looks different than it used to, however, because of the intense land reclamation all over.

Now, this society is also nomadic, but not like in the olden days.  Instead, expats come here from all over the world for different careers and opportunities.  In my culture, there is a saying:  "A shtetl iz Amerika"-- America is but a small town.  It's a small world.  Abu Dhabi is a big city but with people from all over this small world.   It is a stratified society where westerners are often in advisory roles, Nepalis often do window cleaning due to their comfort with heights, Indians are often drivers and so on and so forth.  But it is multiculturally accepting.

Why?

Because the economy is good. The oil is flowing.  There is wealth.  People come here for a role to play, and they know how to play it.

But times change.

Archaeologists can tell us all about times changing, civilizations coming and going.

I still marvel at the phrase "lingua franca":  a Latin phrase meaning "French language" describing what English is today, the common language around the world.

Sic transit gloria mundi, thus passes the glory of the world.

Today, I saw side by side the faces of the past and the present, in a society that was built recently to provide for the future.

I am here, working on training the future.  

I wonder what dinosaurs would have taught if they have schools.

Would they have taught the science of marveling at the stars and protection from asteroids?

Would they have taught culinary arts and escape strategies?

Would they have created dinosaur art and music to celebrate each moment while they had it?

We are lighting this city, this world, civilization as we know it, with dinosaurs.

The oil will not last forever.

How do we keep our lights (all kinds of them) shining?