Today seems like a good day to write a letter to my fellow journeyers of life on this Pale Blue Dot. It won’t be a long one, but I think that it’s become a necessary one.
What are we doing? I mean really doing to learn to live with one another. At the moment, it seems like the answer is…not enough. There are people suffering from inequalities, mistreatment, and even death. It’s not something that is comfortable to think about if you’re not in one of those places. If you are, then my thoughts and wishes for your safety and inner strength are with you all. As much as we are apart, we also need to be together. I wrote about needing to belong, but this goes beyond superficial attachment. This reaches down to our very bones, and says that we need one another.
These differences seem insurmountable because we’re looking at them from the wrong angles. Instead of using angles, we should be looking straight and really seeing who surrounds us. Find those who have a common desire to uplift and help them do so. Try to reason with those who choose to tear down by asking them why they aren’t offering a better way for all. Stop looking for benefits that will uplift only a select few. If benefits only help the few, then they’re not benefits. They’re just favors that come with dangerous attachments.
It’s now time to change this tapestry and weave a new one together. One that has some of the following attributes:
- No barriers to equality – we’re all humans
- Remove status – praise achievement
- Absolutely no harmful violence – only protection
- No ideologies – only ideas that grow
- No more “NO!” – let’s discuss possibility
- No more hunger, war, hate – only understanding, help and acceptance
- Respect and dignity for all, equally
We are tracking the wrong enemies. Those people who are fighting to be heard are not the bad guys. They are fighting for their lives to have meaning. The hard work is to rid ourselves of intolerance, injustice, and unbalanced benefit. We should be trying to affect change by making it meaningful for everyone. We need to walk away from the concept of personal wealth, and embrace social prosperity. We need to start hearing more than the words. Words are constructs that can be made pretty, or made ugly. The user chooses which way they are to be used. If we make the user’s words ineffective by adding our own thoughtful actions, then we’ve started the process of change. I think that it’s about time that we all came out of our shells and start holding up one another. There’s no time for change like the present, because change can be good if that’s what we intend. It’s a tough road, but a necessary one if we’re to achieve inspirational change.
Thanks for your time, Dear World. I’m working to stop status quo and embrace change. Anyone want in?
And if my words don’t convince you, then maybe the words about corruption by Peter Eigen from Ted Talks will help see what we’re up against without change:
