Future is Now

What do you think of future? Do you think future is something far away, or just exist in your dream? Or are you one of those people who believe that future is something that you may dream but cannot reach?

When I got this tittle, what first came to me is a picture of space station marked a five stars flag. It reminded me of Shenzhou five space ship. I dreamed I sit in that station and do my research. Yes, the future is now, and the now is future. The time is flying, no matter the past, present or future, they are all relative. To the past, now is future, while to today now, tomorrow is future.

I’d like to break this topic into three:

First, we can foresee the future from now. Actually, it’s not only an imagination. We are not to be a future-teller, but it’s no doubt that we can see a space power standing up from the success of Shenzhou five. We can see a prosperous China from the developing momentum now. We can see a bright future from our diligence and efforts now in the university. In my childhood, many uncles and aunts said to my parents that this girl was so smart and would granted a wonderful future. They expected my future from my behavior that time, no matter it was a flattery or truth. They thought the now is the future.

Second, we plan the future based on now, today. If we wish to be great lawyer, we have to study law now; if we want to be a successful CEO, we have to master economics now. Our government decided to build a well-off society, and therefore planned to double the GDP of year 2000 in 2010, and then redouble it in 2020. How did our government know that this goal could be realized? It based on the today’s success and its indications.

Third, we take action now to get ready for the future. We cannot only live in the imagination, in the beautiful dream. Now we are in a information age, in a knowledge-based society. If we cannot arm ourselves with modern knowledge and skills, we may not catch the development of the world, and lag far behind, and become a loser of the globalization.

So I always define now as the challenge and future as the opportunity. The challenge is to build our capacity, while the opportunity is to realize our dream and ideal. Today in the university is a good time to discover our potentials and to build our capacity that will help us make decisions about our future. We have been told we can be anyone we want to be, but the hard part is to get enough knowledge and skills now, and get the key ready to open the door of the future opportunity. Otherwise, we will take no advantage of opportunities in the future when they come to visit you. It seems that we are not lacking opportunity in our society, but lacking seizers. The successful person always makes adequate preparations to meet opportunities as they duly arrive. The unsuccessful person, on the other hand, works little and just waits to see them pass by. In this way we may conclude that today’s effort does appear to affect tomorrow’s result. In other words, the better we do now, the brighter future we will have.

And when I think about myself, I’m sure that I can get from teachers here today not only fish, but also the way to get fish. Whether we can be armed with modern knowledge and relative skills required to turn the current challenges into future opportunities, it’s something connected with a good career and a pleasant life. There's a whole new level of knowledge and learning needed to succeed in this knowledge and technology-based and rapidly changing society. As General Motors Chairman John F. Smith said that you can no longer diagnose a car's problem simply by pulling the car under a shade tree, listening to the engine and tinkering.

“One today is worth two tomorrow.” A proverb goes like that. What we can master and make good use of is now. Considered life as a voyage, no matter what weather we will meet, sometimes with wind and sometimes against it, we must sail, not drift and not lie at anchor.

Future is not something far away, or just exist in your dream. It lies in our hand, and it is now.