There are times when we as human beings are forced to confront our feelings regarding major issues e.g. if Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC are to meet in the FA Cup Final, and I stand to make a reasonable amount of money on a Chelsea win; does my predisposition towards a Chelsea loss (which I believe should always happen…infact, I think this is a form of natural justice) trump my lust for money, which is considerable? This is indeed a conundrum. I’d have to seriously consider whether indulging my hatred of Chelsea would be worth missing out on a possible trip to Vegas, assuming my missus would approve. No easy answers to be found here, friends.

On a much grander scale, humanity is still coming to terms with the fact that the resources we have are running out, and attempting to address the situation has left us between a rock and a hard place. I read this article on the BBC News website which highlights the crisis in food supply that is brewing. The article also helpfully presents a possible solution to the would-be problem: Genetically Modified (GM) Foods, or certainly the technology behind it. GM Foods have been around for a while. You can read this Wikipedia page for stats, but I think it’s safe to say that if you live in the US or Europe today, there’s a good chance you have consumed something with GM tech in it. Basically, the idea here is that those who are against GM will have to compromise at some point to ensure that a larger proportion of humanity is fed.

GM is a controversial term, but the idea of genetic engineering is in keeping with humanity’s need to improve on God’s work for purposes of self-preservation, or for cosmetic reasons. This is in some way related to the issue of cloning stem cells…or the possibility of choosing traits in our children before they are born. It’s inteferring with nature, any way you put it. This is not always problematic, as most would agree that at least a few of our triumphs in the field of medicine can be argued as doing just that. This is a question of lines, and where they should be drawn; heck, if they should be drawn at all. The motives in some cases for “making changes” are clearly understandable (”Superman” Christopher Reeves was a big proponent of Stem Cell research. I can’t say I could challenge that, seeing what he had to live through being paralysed from the neck down). In others, they are a bit iffy (Mother tells doctor to only preserve fetuses that have green eyes, instead of regular brown). In addition to these, in the case of GM you have issues like Intellectual Property, Financial Profitability (big warning signs here for both of these), and Health and Safety. The companies that push this…they stand to make a mint. We’ve all seen what the search for profit can do. How can we be sure that all of this “tampering” is safe? Do we NEED to do this?

It’s funny how perspectives can change with time and experience. I worked in the Produce department at a Super Market in London years ago, and I can honestly say I wasn’t the least bit bothered about all the GM brouhaha. They said it made crops cheaper to grow; more resistant to weeds and viruses and stuff; plus the end-product looked good. I spent a considerable amount of time stacking apples, courgettes and potatoes. I never saw fruits and veggies that looked so appealing. We had a bunch of fruit trees in our compound when I was growing up in Nigeria. There was mango, orange, tangerine, oil palm, avocado, paw paw, sugar cane, plantain, guava, banana…and another species of banana. There were more, but I think I’ve made my point – I know fruit. Fruit never looked sexy till I got to England. I actually wanted to eat fruit there, rather than just pluck them because they were available (ironically, I only now truly appreciate the benefits of consuming all of that as a child). Also, If you didn’t want to purchase GM foods in the store you could avoid them e.g. by paying for that Organic stuff – if you were rich. No harm, no foul. I never really thought about the far-reaching implications until fairly recently.

The first time it registered as anything more than just “advanced cropping techniques” was when I saw a square watermelon on TV. I am not sure why I thought it was GM, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that this square watermelon scared me…big time. Have you ever seen a square watermelon? It just seems so…wrong; at least that’s what I thought at the time. I paid more attention to GM after that; plus I vowed not to eat any more watermelons until they had been put through an extremely stringent identity verification process. It turns out I needn’t have worried; square watermelons are not GM products, and they cost a fortune!

In any case, the issue is coming to a head as time moves on. It’s one thing to say that food is expensive, or not, as the case may be; but it is something else entirely to say it is unavailable, even for those who would be able to afford it. This brings up a question. Is this really an issue of food scarcity, or is there more to it? The UN released numbers showing that, as of December 2008, almost a billion people are registered members of the “starving class”. As you can imagine, most of those are in poor or developing countries. It would seem that the key problem might not be over-population or a lack of food as some would think, but poverty and food distribution (further complicated by corruption and other factors). It is not that population is not an issue, but that the problem still exists in the absence of the population issue. For instance, Bangladesh suffers from over-population and a lot of people are starving. This is true. However, Nigeria and Brazil (while densely populated) have substantial food available and people are still starving. There are systems in place that govern how crops are cultivated and distributed e.g. countries that owe money to the West have a certain amount of “Cash-Crops” they must produce to pay off their debt, seemingly without much regard for the state of its inhabitants. Will producing more GM Foods in the world address this? The simple answer is “No”.

Then, we have waste. Americans apparently do not consume a good 40% of the food harvested here. That’s a shame (Shame on me too, I suppose. My contributions towards excessive consumption in the US were truly phenomenal until recently, since I have a soft spot for steak. I am not much for waste though. My mother thought me to always clear up my plate ). It might help if some structure were put into place – along with good, old-fashioned responsibility from regular citizens – to help mitigate this and redirect resources to where they are needed more. It might also help if those massive multi-national farming companies didn’t encourage their workers to toss out fruits that have been harvested because they don’t look “pretty” enough for the stores. Once again, the sheer quantity of waste here is appalling. That said, we all contribute to this by automatically homing in on the nicer-looking fruits at Walmart or Asda. A change in attitude is perhaps needed…from everyone.

So, should we really be having the GM debate when more “holistic” solutions are available? GM is an interesting proposition, but it won’t address the underlying problem. We have to fix the system first. Many agree that there is enough food, at least for now. The GM debate will be necessary at some point, but we shouldn’t have to do it now. Maybe humanity will run out of food at some point (Lord knows what we might have to do at that point…maybe old folks will be…gulp…recycled). However, as long as there are other solutions to address the problem of hungry people, it will just not be palatable to a lot of people. Controversial change – particularly change with potential risk for all – always has a better chance of success and more powerful impact when there is NECESSITY driving it. You don’t start planning to have an operation on your leg before you break it. You first try to avoid breaking it e.g. take calcium pills (non GM, of course), avoid playing in football matches with Martin Taylor, etc. There are other ways you should try first. Invasive surgery should be a last resort.

There is much more to explore here, so I’ll be back with this some other time.

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Before I continue, I would like to clear up a few things. No, I don’t work for Apple (neither am I looking for a job with them). No, I have not been commissioned to do marketing for them (Hint, hint, Apple. I can be reached at donald@masteryourfate.com. Paypal donations accepted). I am just another professional – no, human being – who has been seeking that Holy Grail for the Mobile Life (which I’d like to think I am living, but that may just be me and my illusions of Grandeur): A device which will allow me to truly reproduce, at least partially, ALL of the important processes which I can do on my computer. I have now found it. Thus, I feel compelled to share this/bore others with this fact. Why? Well, because I can. Here’s a list of the features I require for daily life:

- Emails and Internet…decent speed
- Audio/Video Player
- Camera (Video and Audio)
- News
- Forex Charting/Analysis apps
- Wordpress Blog/Twitter updates
- A bunch of other miscellaneous applications

My search has taken me to the highest of mountains and lowest of valleys (ahem), through days filled with fear and longing, and sleepless nights without internet access, wondering if my trades had gone wrong and wiped out my trading account. No more. No more, I say.

It has been a long and winding road to get here. Once I had accepted that I “needed” one of these mobile/PDA life enhancing thingies, I had to get one. Need is a powerful thing. I usually discover that I need things close to birthdays and Christmas. At this point, my long-suffering missus is brought up to speed a couple of months out. By the time it’s a month till the event, my need has reached fever pitch. The missus now has to sanction the acquisition of the item of desire (a PS2, an XBOX, an XBOX 360, numerous mobile phones, even a car…now we add the iPhone 3GS) before I spontaneously combust.

So I got a Blackberry first. It was great for checking active email accounts (all 6 of them). The internet was a bit dodgy though. The screen was also way too small. it just didn’t feel like the internet in my hand, you know? So, I jettisoned it after some months (I forget the excuse…but it was clearly life or death). I got the T-Mobile G1 a month before Xmas. That was fun for a while. The internet was better (though T-Mobile’s 3G network is not great). I was also exposed to a new world of applications. I lusted for greater power though. I still had to carry an Ipod around. Android (the Google Mobile operating framework) shows a lot of promise, but the better phones and applications are years away. Ok, maybe the end of the year; but that’s like light-years in the mobile world.

Then recently, a colleague suddenly acquired an iPhone. I was assaulted with sweet temptation from all sides. In due time (like a couple of days), I caved and went out and got one (Anyone want a T-Mobile G1?). All I can say is WOW! Check out a typical Monday:

- Wake up to alarm (iPhone).

- Listen to some relaxing Enya (what I listen to is my business) as I preapre (iPhone in dock)

- Listen to podcasts as I drive (FM trasmitter in car…the VW iPod adapter is rubbish)

- Use iPhone App “Simplex FX” to do some Forex Technical Analysis on Charts during the day. Take notes if I notice anything interesting. Flashes of inspiration can be put on blog. Internet use is a cinch.

- Take iPod to gym and listen to more podcasts and my spanish learning thingy

- Miscellaneous tasks, of which they are many on the iPhone

- Playback some of my personal statements (e.g. “I am the Greatest”) before I go to bed (voice recorder on my iPhone)

- Sleep until I am awakened by alarm

- Rinse and repeat till infinity.

I can be away from my PC for days and still function. It’s the best life-partner a guy could ask for (apologies to my wife)! I can honestly say that my quest to make the world a better place now has a boost…ahem.

600 Americans die falling out of bed year (Time Magazine, Nov 2006). I guess I’ll be sleeping in from now on…

Seriously though, statistics like this belie the true facts. They can over-generalize and leave you with the wrong impression; in this case, the impression that trying to get out of bed can leave you dead which, while true, is a massive exaggeration. In truth, most of the people who meet their demise this way are much older or much younger than the average. Basically, it’s still okay for you to risk getting out of bed.

So it’s really about the idea of risk and whether the rewards of attempting something are worth the potential cost. The issue of risk has never been more relevant than it is today. I mean, we are slowly recovering (knock on wood) from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s. It’s been bloody and painful to watch and experience it first-hand. Thus, it’s timely to bring up that old lovable-rogue, Risk. Why? Well, because he is mostly to blame for the BS we have all had to endure over the last year or so…if you believe most people. There are others in the line-up as well; Greed, for instance. However, Risk features prominently somewhere between cause and effect here.

I remember watching the United States’ Congress grilling the “Wall Street” CEOs after it was revealed that most of their philosophy for management seemed to be about maximizing risk and hoping for the best. Okay, not really; but most of these clowns were a bit rubbish, really. In any case, I was a little sad because I could see the effect such a spectacle (almost a public hanging, sort of) would have – not on the CEOs themselves; they might now be a little bit constrained in their current environment, but they will soon find other ways to express their dare-devil tendencies…or just retire with their massive bonuses – on those regular people at home who watched it; those who were reeling from the new harsh reality of living in tough economic times after years of prosperity; those who might decide that this was proof that taking risks is just not worth the trouble.

As I alluded to in the opening sentence of this article, risk-taking is inherent in our lives. There’s the whole having to get out of bed thing. There’s driving to work under the assumption that other drivers will be reasonable folks, not psychotic murderers out for blood. There’s eating out at a restaurant not knowing what the chef (or his prankster assistant) has put in your meal. I’m nitpicking here, I know; but it’s interesting how human beings can give a much higher risk weighting to one thing, completely ignoring the statistics, because of perception. For instance, I read an article in Time Magazine a little while ago that pointed out an interesting fact. As of the date of that article (Nov 2006), precisely no one in America had been killed by Avian Flu, which was busy inducing barely restrained panic in people. However, the common flu contributes to the death of over 36,000 Americans a year. Talk about misplaced fear (er…I have never taken the flu shot either, and Swine flu freaked me out completely earlier this year as well).

This phenomenon could have something to do with the “Devil you know” concept. The relatively unknown always seems scarier than the things we are familiar with. Aside from that, we tend to fear suffering, in most cases more than death itself. I mean I have thought to myself that I would like to go quickly when it’s my time (Not often. I’m not morbid! Honest!). Thus, we tend to have a greater fear of a long, drawn-out demise e.g. from AIDS; even though Heart Disease kills 50 times as many people (once again, American statistics).

This brings us back to the risks in finance. The idea is simple: if you screw up your finances, you are looking at possibly a very long, drawn-out period that would be spent answering for that. You might also have to drag your family along for the ride. It is not a pleasant thought. So, we would all do well to plan carefully and ensure that we don’t ruin ourselves. Security is the watch-word here, for ourselves and those we love. That said, how much security is too much security? I mean let’s try to be objective about it. In life, it seems that if you risk a little bit more, you raise the potential for gaining more…as well as losing more. So, there has to be a “middle-area”, right? Somewhere where the potential loss is not so big that we can’t get back on the horse again if the venture fails. Well, there is, in my opinion.

Those Wall Street CEOs…they had the right idea, before they put it on steroids. In order to effect real change, some risk-taking is required. That is how industry works. Google has launched an OS and Microsoft is stepping into the Search game again. Each of these is a risky venture, with the potential for much bruising down the line; but the game must be played. The concept of “security” might be enough to preserve the status-quo for a while, but progress requires shaking things up a bit. That’s part of the reason CEOs (not necessarily these chumps we talked about before…you know who you are!) get to earn as much money as they do; they have developed higher risk-tolerance, and an ability to “stick their necks out”. One might argue that it’s easy to do this if you’re already financially secure (as most of these folks are; darned bonuses!), but these ladies and gentlemen demonstrated those qualities long before they made it to the top. You see it at work, with the people who are more willing to take on responsibility with the risk of “screwing up” hanging over them. If things don’t work out, they might have to move jobs, but if they do, jackpot!

The idea of huge risks in “doing one’s own thing” is a also bit dated. This article on Time.com points out for instance that there isn’t nearly as much risk involved in entrepreneurship as one might think. It really comes down to planning. For instance, that’s what Business Plans are for. There’s also more opportunity to start with small things (not the 200 dollar “investment” in Blackjack in Vegas. I learnt my lesson from that one). Risk-tolerance is like a muscle. It needs exercise. You can flex it with inconsequential things at first, then up the stakes a little.

The most important thing is not to give into the knee-jerk reaction that comes when a little (okay, BIG)something like a recession comes along. One must not lose one’s objectivity in such situations. Investigate; do the research yourself. There are things that one can only learn by trying. The experience (along with prejudices and failures) of others can only carry anyone so far.

Besides, putting yourself out there makes you more alive. That’s partly what life is all about, you know?

You do yourself no justice if you don’t.

Recently, I have found my thoughts unconsciously drifting to a subject that I have consciously avoided for most of my adult life…the suffering of others. I mean poverty in the third-world, poverty in Nigeria, since that’s where I’m from.

I have realized that, up until now, my attitude towards this has been to ignore it where possible. Of course it has never seemed that way to me when it occurs, but I can see now that that is what it was…is. I don’t want it to be there; I don’t wish it on anyone; however, I can’t be arsed to do anything about it, so I change the channel after a customary sigh of sadness and yada, yada, yada…wonder what’s on TV today?

I was raised around poverty. There were poor folks everywhere. That was the way it was…is. We weren’t though, as with most of my friends. The deprived people around…well, they were just a fact of life, you know? I was sure they were fine. Not really my problem. I had my own life to live. It’s funny how life can be. I remember hearing on CNN in my mid-teens that 70% of Nigerians were below the poverty line. I was genuinely shocked. Things couldn’t really be that bad, could they? Foreigners were mistaken. They were looking at things from one perspective. There were clearly large amounts of wealth in Nigeria. What were they going on about?

Over the years that view of my home country has pretty much been the same. Everytime I watch some news or documentary highlighting Nigeria, it always seems to highlight so much negativity (forget the emails…that’s not what I am talking about here. Focus!). I want to say “That’s not the way it is. That’s not the way it is. That’s just not the way it is…”. It’s almost like if I say it enough times, people will realize that I am speaking the truth. However, that is false. The truth is that things ARE bad. If 70% of a the population of a country live under the poverty line (if the statistics still apply…though I can’t imagine them being much different from that), then that reflects the state of the country. That is what matters. It’s no use harping on about the other 30% who are doing well if so many have sucky lives. That means the country is failing. Now that’s something that we who are in a better position in some way, form or manner have to take some responsibility for.

The view that my country is a craphole, true or false, has a number of knock-on effects on my life. There is an instant impulse to disprove any preconceptions people may have about me, because…”not all of us are like that!”. No matter where I go in the world, I will have to answer in some way for being Nigerian. There’s the other problem as well; the voice in my head that whispers to me when I go to sleep at night in the privacy of my home (or hotel room, or in-law’s sofa…don’t ask). The voice says “what have you done about it?”. Up until now I have been fine answering that. I try to live my life to fairly high standards…ish. I try to to do the…right thing. You know what I mean, living a good life and all of that. I could always say “I have done right, so sod off”.

The problem now (aside, of course, for the voices in my head, which I should clearly get therapy for) is that I can now see how selfish that perspective is. It’s always been about me, first. While fixing yourself is fair, there comes a time when extending that sphere around yourself to include others becomes paramount. The idea is that after you are done addressing yourself, you try to contribute to the greater good. You give something of yourself; time, money etc. You do it because you can see more of the bigger picture. You can see that you are part of a whole. You can no longer separate yourself completely. If everything goes to hell, it’s only a matter of time before your little cocoon is punctured as well. So, you try to help out in some way…to do your part, to fix the situation so you can stop defending yourself repeatedly in public! Or you do it to allay your guilt for moving on to better things and abandoning others to face a crap fate; the guilt for not trying to do anything about it. You do it because you are now in the position to. At least that’s the idea.

So, where does one start now that one has been unfortunate enough to be have a conscience suddenly bestowed upon them? What can one do? The body and soul are now ready (sort of) to do something. However, the mind has no clue what direction to head. Well, I don’t think it’s necessary to quit your job and go off with the Red Cross to a warzone to help victims, though you can if that’s your cup of tea. It’s just that lack of sleep bothers me, as do flies, and long periods in tropical climates; plus my missus would kill me. I am joking about these (aside from my wife, she really would kill me), but there is a point. Our lives are full of stuff. Too much to sacrifice to do the big things, so we do nothing. The answer, perhaps, is to start small. Find a cause that you can identify with, then find someone who is doing something with it and join them. For someone like me, that’s easy. There is much to fix in my home country. I can do something about that, and I can start now.

I met up with one of the guys who started this: PovertyStopsHere.org. These are people who are ACTUALLY doing something. No rhetoric, just good, old-fashioned action. I have always thought I was a reasonable person. I imagined that when it came down to it, I could look out for others when required. Well, after this week, I know now that I have much to do if I am to live up to this vision of myself.

So act! Find your cause today. You’ll feel better for it.