These times we call our own
Last night I had an interesting conversation with Silvia, Bryn, Joel and Dani from Catalonia, British Columbia, Wisconsin and Catalonia respectively (listed in chat drop-out order). We covered a wide range of topics, from intra-Europe flights to NASA, from community leadership in Spain to global politics and from childhood violence to the Iraq War, among many others. Some of these topics left us all feeling helpless. Many hours of complex conversation left me with a simple conclusion:
It is a difficult time to be an individual.
There too much to disagree with. There is too much hatred and war and strife and killing. So much going on throughout the world right now is absolutely appalling. Our governments lie to us and mislead us, our businesses lie to us and take advantage of us. The global community turns the other cheek on massive tragedies, genocides and human rights violations that are documented, proven and ongoing. The media reports on all of the atrocities and lies but then forgets them seconds later. The average person cannot be expected to go beyond what the media tells them, instead they remain uninformed and inactive. Citizens rally around the spread of democracy but fail to participate in their own.
It is easy to feel powerless. It is very easy to become completely disillusioned. However, if our governments and businesses refuse to progress toward what we believe is a just, equitable and sustainable global society, that leaves the responsibility in the hands of the individuals. Please. If the politicians and businessmen who are supposed to represent you, those who are supposed to act on your behalf, those who you trust to act for the greater good, if they refuse to progress: sometimes all you can do is try to progress yourself. It does make a difference.
