I’ve noticed a lot of comments from people recently (all over different media) from people who are asking, “what can I/we do?” or stating, “we have to rise up!” We’ve all seen them, and maybe we’ve even been one of those leaving the comment.
Some people may think I oversimplify things but, in many cases, many of our solutions truly are simple. We over-complicate things because we want to see some magical change happen around us. Most of the time, it’s us who need to change. Our mindset has to be one of selfishness in a way because we have to grab that change we want for ourselves and our families and sometimes that means just doing *one* thing differently.
We have to turn despair and hopelessness into positive action. We have to stop thinking that we need a magical leader or movement to appear before we can “get involved”. It seems “involvement” in today’s world is liking a comment or joining some kind of group online. And what does the group, comment or movement accomplish? Pretty much nothing in most cases because it’s, um, online. People rarely take the motivation they feel after reading a post or joining an online movement and turn it into action. This needs to change. And that *is* in our control.
I’ve seen comments about taking care of the elderly moving forward in this insane world. I’ve seen people rail on about politics of the “right” and the “left”. I’ve noticed rants about fixing the food supply. I’ve seen knock-down drag out “debates” about self-defense. I’ve seen people hoping some of those who got sick after taking endless shots for “covid” would die. The list, of course, is endless. What I haven’t seen is people talking about what they are *doing* to reverse the very things they rail against! We *don’t* necessarily need a movement to begin fixing any of the things I’ve seen discussed.
If you care about the elderly, are you seeking out the elderly in your area and finding out if any of them need help? If you care about “right” vs “left” politics, have you actually studied what both “sides” have believed historically and ripped yourself out of the destructive two-party paradigm? If you care about self-defense have you gone out and learned how to handle whatever method of self-defense you are choosing for yourself? If you care about the food supply, have you started growing food yourself and stopped buying the garbage off of store shelves? I could drone on endlessly. I guess I need to ask, “what are you waiting for?” I have news: If we are just going to read blog posts then like and comment on them and do *nothing* to change our personal situation and the situation of our families and friends, things will never change.
I talk an awful lot about changing *our* world. There’s a really good chance that we will never change “the” world, but we can absolutely change our own world. You know, the bubble we live in. The things we rant about or rail against in our own bubble are completely within our control in many cases.
“If you’re not free now, it isn’t because you haven’t done enough to change the world. Quite the contrary, it may be that you’ve been doing too much to change the world. The effort you’ve expended in that direction could have been used to provide freedom for yourself.” Harry Browne
Movements and leaders come out of what we as individuals are doing in our own lives to secure liberty for ourselves. Most of the greatest leaders throughout history didn’t set out to become leaders, but were catapulted into that position because they were living a certain way, people saw it and said to themselves, “I want to be part of that!” None of us knows whether we, or someone in our circle/bubble will end up being that leader. But I can guarantee that if we don’t start living what we want the world to be in our own lives, that leader will never appear. We may miss out on something amazing because we were sitting by and waiting for the “next best thing” to appear so we could (hopefully) be part of it. And, typically, by that time it’s too late and we’ve missed it anyway. So, we continue to sit and wait for the next one. And the next one. And the next one…
Gandhi, Moses, Abraham, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa, and countless others *never* saw the world they were hoping to see in their lifetimes. But they all held on to faith that things could change and they *lived* the change they were seeking in their own lives and in their own “bubbles” while becoming leaders, movers and shakers of the societies and cultures in which they had influence. Not because they “joined” something, but because they *were* something. They lived the change they wanted to see. They didn’t look to a government or some social group before stepping out and doing what they believed was right. They did it themselves, knowing that there was a chance no one would even agree with them. The best leaders of movements and change in history have been those who took a chance and just went ahead and lived the way they believed was right, ignoring what anyone else (or government) thought, and were willing to suffer a bit because of it. If we aren’t willing to do the same the future will be bleak and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves if we don’t at least *try* to do something.
This is a short post this week and I’m sure many of you are happy about that. Haha. I will leave you with some quotes from a couple of leaders who didn’t wait for a movement, but became the movement. None of them changed the world, but they changed *their* world.
If you would like, take a moment and let others know in the comments what you are doing to change *your* world. Are you boldly walking maskless into stores that are still requiring “masks?” Are you trying to unite with neighbors in your area? Are you feeding the homeless? Are you running for office in a local election? Are you going to school board meetings? Are you turning off the tracking device (addictive cell phone) once in awhile? Are you volunteering somewhere in your community? Anything, and I mean *anything* you are doing *is* worthy and is making a difference. We might not always see the difference we are making, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and we definitely should not be waiting for someone else to motivate us or rally us to *be* the change we want to see in the world!
“People do not fail – they only quite trying.” Jay Conrad Levinson
“Evil has a way of making friends with the good and dragging them into the darkness.” Author Unknown
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Remember that all through history there have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seemed invincible… But in the end they always fall. Always. Mahatma Gandhi
If we are just going to read blog posts then like and comment on them and do *nothing* to change our personal situation and the situation of our families and friends, things will never change.
This is so easy to state but so hard to put into practice. Since just yelling at people doesn’t usually work, I spend a lot of time musing about ways to develop initiative and will-power. I think it has to start with physical training. The mind follows the body. If we can get people physically strong and capable, then it is relatively simple to extend this discipline to other areas. If we start our day with squats and deadlifts, then everything else seems easy.
The theosophists knew this long ago, that you can’t change the future, you cannot change other people. You can only change yourself. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” - that skinny guy in a bed sheet.
I try. I won’t work for a corporation that damages the earth. I won’t eat animals products because of the cruel and destructive practices of this industry. I won’t drive a car because they pollute. What do you do?