We live in strange times. The particular and peculiar characteristics of our world in one sense don't appear so different now than they did on that awful summer night in June 2016. In other senses, however, the previous decade seems very long ago indeed. Many things appear to be changing rapidly, and we analyze and struggle and fight with one another over what these changes mean. We are overloaded with conflicting narratives, alleged information, and relentless images and sounds, but we don't seem to be growing in wisdom and understanding. Do we intend push forward recklessly into every technological possibility, driven by our urge for ever-greater power (and ever-greater profits)? Do we think we won’t be held accountable for the oppression and suffering of all the human persons we push aside as we plow over the world pursuing our inflamed ambitions?
The capacities of AI keep multiplying, but I find it more and more frustrating and complicated to work photographs into worthwhile artistic expressions. Media tools that are supposed to increase accessibility can just as easily lead to bewilderment. Maybe for me this is just part of growing old.
Still, my efforts are on a very basic scale. I can't imagine what implications the new technologies will have on the processes and organization of governments, though it appears that nations are plunging in headlong to the vast experiment. We think we see where we are going, but are we blind to our own blindness?
Christina Grimmie's risks in music and media took her in directions she never could have imagined, to earthly successes and to the unexpected circumstances that resulted in the tragic and violent end of her earthly life. But her efforts were shaped by the boldness of love for the One who created her, redeemed her, and called her to Himself.
She is a sign of what ultimately matters, what gives meaning to successes and failures, to strength and powerlessness, to hope for all of life that cries out for eternity.
