The Knife & the Wasp

This is a wonderful time to be alive.

Be not afraid.

By virtue of his collective intellect and the discovery of God’s will, Mankind has climbed out of the caves and moved from the huts of his ancestors into skyscrapers of glass and steel. Progress is on the march and our ability to live together in harmony contributes to and is directly related with the rise in our communal standard of living.

It is within our collective grasp to eradicate diseases that have afflicted our race since we began to band together in our first halting steps toward civilization. We already possess the means to combat poverty and starvation. Our knowledge has given us the keys to generate safe and renewable energy. We can travel about the globe with an ease that would have astonished our forebears. The name for the transference of knowledge between peoples and its resultant integration of cultures is globalization. The increasing connectedness of human beings means that what happens in one place affects those in many places, and, to some degree, all people everywhere. We can, as observers of globalization, choose to focus on the convergence of patterns of production and consumption and perceived homogenization of culture. It is when we do so that globalization seems most objectionable. In this light we may fret about the loss of an individual’s slice of a finite pie of wealth, fixate upon a given group’s drop in standard-of-living, believe in a decreased ability to engage in freedoms, claim a dilution of voting power, worry about descent into the perceived barbarisms of another culture, fear the disintegration of religious traditions, and feel an increase in general anxiety about the future.

Be not afraid.

Instead, accept that change is inevitable. Seek to adapt to the changes of the future. Remember the universal capacity to love. Acknowledge that the human spirit can withstand trials and hardships. Know that we have the ability to shape our future. Take faith that tomorrow will be a better day.

It is the intention of this work to help the reader understand in an easily grasped fashion how globalization spreads, what that spread means for the future of American workers, and how those who want to participate in the benefits of globalization should respond. The world-view and diagrams contained within will aid individuals in their transition to a future that promises to bring all Mankind to a destination of increased prosperity and contentment.

This book was conceived in the proposition that fear of globalization is largely unfounded. It puts forth that this fear is dangerous to the progress in which we are engaged as individuals and as a species. It believes that the people of United States, and any nation, can find happiness, increased prosperity, and a meaningful existence within economies rooted in enlightened self-interest and the Judeo-Christian ethic. This book advocates the pursuit of prosperity as desirable, not flawed. It views money as a form of freedom, and thus, good; but rejects the rampant materialism that afflicts so many in our society today. Lastly, this book is meant to spread the perception that life in this world is not a zero-sum struggle unless we make it one, and should instead be viewed as a glorious opportunity in which each person may better his or her own life and the lives of others by each of us using our own unique set of God-given skills.