The world is in crisis.
We have been
lied to.
Each of us
deceived by those who we thought would protect us. Conditioning has placed us
where we are. Conditioning is what will free us once more. There is much about
the world around us that we cannot understand for what it is; interconnected
parts working for each other against the best interests of humanity. Like lambs
to the slaughter, we were shown our roles. We did not fight for what we
believed, nor did we conform to what they wished.
We succumbed
to the will of perceived inevitability.
I think that
we are avoiding the most obvious point of it all. It is not whether it is
happening because we started it. The thing that we must remember is that we can
do something about it. What we know and believe is little more than what we
were told to believe; the wealth of our knowledge is little more than what has
been told to us. The nations of this world are divided by walls and barriers
that are not physical, but instead ideological and financial. We are not
creatures of evil or apathy, but instead we are taught throughout our lives to
behave this way, adhering and following the antediluvian archetypes of centuries
and empires past.
What can be
offered is not a panacea.
What can be
offered is to help find the value in living, and the love in what is all around
you. These times that face us are powerful and sorrowful, for each day defines
the next. A change does not appear before our eyes, but is instead the earnest,
incremental struggle of ideals and beliefs that will change the world.
It has been
said that one human being cannot change the world. This creates a false
dichotomy insofar that we have been made to believe that either our actions can
change the world, or they cannot. This is not the way of things. We may change,
for good or bad, upon the shoulders and backs of our brothers and sisters.
The world is
sick.
Humanity is
ailing.
We have
hunger, famine, disease, and widespread violence the world over. Consuming the
resources of this one planet, we do so at such a rate that we will collapse
beneath the weight of our own refuse before our time. If we are to survive,
then we must fight to stay. We must believe that this world is worth having,
and prove that we deserve to occupy this planet.
Some have
deferred responsibility, saying that the world will do what it must and
technology will catch up. But how can technology match our consumption and
destruction pace for pace, if all of our monetary resources are being funneled
into that consumption and destruction? All of us are responsible for what we
do, how we behave, and the lives we live.
Granted,
some of us are dealt sadder and tougher hands than others. I find it prudent to
say that those nations and societies that have the least – at least in terms of
what the West has designated as categories for determining status – have the
strongest cohesion amongst the members of their societies because they must
become interdependent. They see crisis and they join together, whether they
understand it or not, and survive.
We as a
species face such a need for survival. No longer can we look at the plights of
the world through rose-colored glasses, or from atop our distant steeples. We
must accept responsibility for the actions of the nations in which we live.
Though we did not deprive a village of their resources, our constant demand for
new things has driven industry to knock on the doors of nations the world over
for resources.
It is time
to stand up and say no more.
Caring about
other people needs to be trendy.
Not because
it is popular amongst the rich and the famous, but because it can and will save
the world. None of us are perfect. Nothing is expected of us in this life
except what we are willing to give. But we must not be afraid to give.
We are a
community whether we wish to believe it or otherwise. Even if you strand
yourself in the farthest reaches of the world, your existence is dependent upon
the creation and distribution of consumer goods that you will need in order to
survive. We are an interconnected world. We have this one world and we have to
prove that we belong here. I have heard – from loved ones and mentors alike –
that we cannot be responsible for what is happening to his world; that we are
too insignificant to make an impact.
This feels
like an excuse.
We want to
be responsible when it is in our best interest. People wish to judge the
actions of others, but not be judged themselves. They wish to say whatever
comes to their minds, critiquing and attacking others, but not to be held
responsible for the insufferable, illogical discourse that marks their opinions
and doubts.
The
constructs of what we have been fooled into believing is the result of our own
ignorance, and the arrogance of those who skirt across the tops of the
economies and industries of the world. Some blame money for our ills:
corporations. Others say that greater laws that enforce the practices of the
corporations are the answer.
But, in the
end, the existence of corporations is for profit. Private ownership and
multinational corporations are two entirely different entities. The concept of
personal freedom and the necessity for broad mass marketing of goods couldn’t
be further from each other. We don’t need all of the things that we have.
I’m not
saying that consumerism is the root of evil, but it is certainly a negative
impression on the record of humanity. Our ever-growing hunger for consumption
and subsequent squandering of resources might as well replace baseball as our
national pastime. There are numerous documentaries already that can aptly
explain to you the vicious cycles of production and consumption, and the
eventual and monumental process of disposal.
It is often
hard to realize that the reality we have found ourselves in is a conditioned
one. We were not born with ideas of capitalism or communism, libertarianism or
determinism. These sorts of thinking (I hesitate to use that word) are
generated from socialization and the ways in which we are instructed and
conditioned to think. David Hume was a firm believer that society was not born
of a social contract agreed upon by a meeting of the minds, but instead that we
were born into an invisible caste bondage that holds us for our lives, if we
allow it.
I find that
I agree with such a position.
The
inner-workings of class structure, as well as the distribution of wealth, tell
us much about the realities of how we are programmed to think and conduct
ourselves. Though there is something to be said for free action and thought,
this seems a luxury that is talked about more than it is exercised.
The vicious
cycle of consumerism is a product of this conditioning.
When the
holiday seasons approach, as they inevitably do, it would do us good to look at
the consequences of our behavior. It is the season of giving, but I challenge
that prospect. Is giving for all to see truly giving? Is buying materials and
transmitting them to another human being who is expecting that gift truly the
giving spirit? Are we not simply doing what is expected of us when we ravage
national chain stores, hording goods that have been discounted to move product
that will only end up in a dumpster a few months later and contribute to an
ever-expanding vortex of garbage that threatens to consume us?
Is this too
negative?
Am I a
scrooge?
Hardly.
Giving is
not about physical substance, but about enriching the lives of others. If you
truly wish to give something during this self-proclaimed giving season, then I
would challenge you to give something that will truly help someone else. Give a
child attention and enrich relationships with family. Donate time to help those
less fortunate. Impossible, you say? My relatives would never go for something
like that, some will say. I can hear the objections, but tradition has long
been poor criteria for what is right and moral in this world.
But what is
giving?
Is it simply
time?
Or is it
something more?
Kantian
philosophy would have us believe that it is deeds done because they must be
done, and not because of how they make us feel; to some extent this is what I
am talking about. Giving because it is expected, or because you enjoy the
outcome, the cheery faces and the thanks, seems empty compared to goodwill that
is done without regard for personal satisfaction. This selflessness seems an
impossibility given the nature of consumerism, but I feel as if there is a well
of hope in humanity that is waiting for a moment to be great. When the giving
season becomes a time during which personal tragedies and depression rank as
trademarks of the holidays, we have to question what we have become.
As our need
grows, it expands beyond the boundaries of what the forest and bounty of our
own land can yield. As skillful consumers, we take the lands of those people
who we perceive to be in less need of their resources. Because, after all, we
are the greatest nation in the world and our needs come before naked villagers
in a far-off country whose name we cannot pronounce or spell.
It would
appear that empathy is a forgotten emotion.
In our
air-conditioned homes in the summertime, and heavily-heated homes in the winter,
we are perfectly insulated from the plights of those people who are without
homes or resources. Or are we? The ever-growing number of poor and homeless in
the United States is an epidemic. Children still break open fire hydrants to
cool off on hot summer days. Families still turn on ovens to heat their homes
because they cannot pay energy bills, and that is if they are lucky enough to
have a stove. The unequal distribution of wealth in this country is astounding.
The gap between the rich and the poor grows each day.
Creating a
system in which the blame falls on the individual despite the nature of the
system has become the standard. We think that every person is capable of
overcoming circumstances; that advantages are not awarded by birth and affluence.
Pop culture has told us that if we think positively about something, if we dare
to dream, then we can influence our future.
But this
strikes me as logically incongruent.
And it
should sound problematic to the world.
This type of
belief blames those who do not rise above their circumstances. There is a
passive nature to this time of admonition, hidden behind a beautiful
possibility. I ask: is this truly the nature of the world? If you believe
something, then doors will open for you? I think the outliers and exceptions
have become the norm. We expect that if we try hard, then we will be rewarded.
What of
those afflicted with famine and victims of genocide forced into refugee camps
the world over? What of rape victims? What of children abused? Did these people
not wish hard enough? Did they not direct their thoughts in the proper direction
to find hope? I have certainly outlined only the horrors of the world, but we
cannot turn a blind eye upon these sores on the back of humanity.
We have to
stand up for those who have no voice.
Have we
become a nation that hears, but does not listen? Have we become a nation that
speaks, but says nothing? Some of my peers, as well as those a generation
older, fear assisting those less fortunate; that by giving to them, the will to
achieve will be broken. That somehow helping those that cannot help themselves
will erode the fabric of who we are.
Is this
true?
I am not
suggesting that we bankrupt ourselves to help others, but as Peter Singer has
suggested, we should give enough so that the least well-off can rise to a level
that could be considered basic. When there are children starving in countries
where what we pay for a gallon of gas could feed them for a day, I have to
question whether sacrificing some comfort and affluence so others may simply
live should not be considered.
We have been
tricked into believing something that is not true.
They told us
that there is a right way and a wrong way. They said there are republicans and
democrats, conservatives and liberals. All around us the constructs of our
society dictate endless false dichotomies that force us to choose one over the
other without examining the rationality, or possibility, of something that we
cannot perceive.
I sometimes
try to think of a world that is so unlike this one. The mantra that there is no
better place to live, or that we are number one, simply makes me sad. Who wants
to be number one in a world where there is so much suffering and sadness? In
America, there is immunity to the horrors and travesties of the world. We are
insulated from the world that surrounds us.
We rally
behind demagogues, partisan rhetoricians, who care more about the game of being
elected than demanding excellence and change of policy. They have become so
assimilated into the culture of domination and conditioning that their campaign
rhetoric is little more than a clever game of chess with words. They dance and
shuffle with issues that should matter, but know that the hot button issues
(the ones we have been conditioned to care about) should have well-articulated
and formulated opinions.
I ask you,
the reader, if an elected official changes your life.
We all see
the numbers.
Unemployment
goes up or down. Astronomical numbers of national debt are trickled down
through the media. Wars are raged and lives lost, but to what end and purpose?
Is there a greater good that is being accomplished by this careful illusion of
smoke and mirrors? Or have we simply been deceived?
What is most
interesting is that the people who rally the hardest for party politics are the
ones most deceived by those in power. The struggling middle class and the poor
unite behind a talking point. People have forgotten that they control
everything. The concentrated wealth of the rich is such that they no longer
fear.
The world
does not change because power is assumed. One man can direct the world in a
positive direction, but the capacity for change is in each of us. The ability
to radically alter our circumstances is in the belief that we are equal, that
we can help each other. Leaving those deemed as unworthy to fend in a world
that rewards selfishness and shuns those less fortunate prepares us for
failure.
I fear that
when the times do not regulate themselves quickly enough, that change does not
happen with the turn of a phrase or the passing of a single day, some will be
quick to demonize. One man can lead. One man can inspire. But it takes a nation
to change. It takes a world to see.
There are
times in history we look back upon and shudder at the humanitarian violations
of a government and the apathy of the people at its base. We wonder to
ourselves how a nation loses its moral compass.
Apathy.
Compliance.
Comfort and
Conformity.
I would like
you to ponder the information presented. Take it in and really think about it.
Talk about it with your friends and family and encourage intellectual
discourse. Find your own answers. Seek out information. Do not be satisfied
with the status quo or the regurgitated material that you see on every news
channel. Fight against the propaganda and lip service of news that is created
for you. Remember that you have the power to change your mind.
People may
tell you what to think, but you decide whether or not you will believe what is
being feed to you is truth, or if you will search for something that might be
difficult. Some may try to convince you that questioning the good life is
wrong, or that what you have read is wrong.
There is
nothing wrong with disbelief, it encourages discovery.
Do not be
afraid to be proven wrong, or to prove something wrong. These are the issues I
grapple with every day. These are issues that I think autonomous beings of the
free world must talk about. It would be intellectually dishonest of us as
thinking beings to not analyze the impact of who we are on the world.
A new
condition must prevail.
