| There are all kinds of new trends but not all of | | | | research in internet cafes are getting cheaper and |
| these are timely. There are trends that are just | | | | cheaper. |
| repetition of former trends, like the sporting of | | | | Other timely topics are those in the realm of |
| way-below-the-belt pants or the wearing of | | | | religion and spirituality. More and more people are |
| mini-skirts. There are trends that are mere fads | | | | turning to spirituality, away from formal religion in |
| like the color of the casing of cell phones. But | | | | the old churches. People are leaving their churches |
| there are trends that are timely, they are | | | | to find meaning in their lives somewhere else. |
| appropriate for our times because they meet our | | | | Many westerners are trying the eastern methods |
| needs, like education at home, away from the | | | | of attaining spiritual enlightenment as in Hinduism, |
| school buildings. | | | | Buddhism and Taoism. Many Christians are |
| One of the timely topics in the new trends is in | | | | experimenting with new ways of becoming |
| the area of communication and information | | | | churches such as house churches, cyber churches |
| technology because more and more people now | | | | whose members gather through the Internet |
| are interacting with more and more people using | | | | without the support of the old church buildings. |
| more and more means of communication. Gone | | | | They listen to audio sermons or videos of |
| are the days when we had to wait so many days | | | | sermons and interact through the Internet. |
| before we received communications from our | | | | Still another timely topic is on health care. There is |
| family or friends through the post office. Now we | | | | a growing trend of going to alternative medicines. |
| can send messages instantly and we can also | | | | Even medical doctors trained in conventional |
| receive messages instantly. And there are more | | | | medicine are studying certain aspects of |
| than one means of doing this. We can do this | | | | alternative medicine. Never before have we seen |
| through our cell phones, our desktop or laptop | | | | the massive proliferation of food supplements and |
| computers, the fax machine, our public means of | | | | huge sale of herbal medicines. Add to this the |
| communication like the radio and television. | | | | electrical contraptions invented by some people to |
| Another timely topic besides communication and | | | | increase the boost of energy within our body. |
| information technology is education. As an | | | | More and more people, especially adults, are |
| educator this is especially of interest to me. Here | | | | conscious of their health. They want to live longer |
| we see a contrasting trend: while formal education | | | | on this planet earth. |
| in the classrooms becomes more and more | | | | Whatever timely topics in the new trends there |
| expensive, informal and non-formal education is | | | | are, these can help us make life better for all of |
| becoming more and more cheap. Tuition fees in | | | | us. |
| schools keep on increasing, but charges for | | | | |