What would you think if I sang out of tune;
would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song;
and I’ll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends.
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends;
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends.(1)
“We need each other: without this camaraderie there will be no world.” This was a pronouncement that I recently listened to from a learned religious leader. In our contemporary age, the violence and the alienation of men from men seems to be more the norm than the exception, unfortunately. Our militaristic traditions are held in high esteem and we continue to have a vicious disregard for life in all its forms – not only for Homo sapiens. Our savage system is simply not working. With such wealth of information and knowledge of world history, what is preventing us from embarking on the path towards a non-violent world? I am convinced that the fault of our inaction must be squarely placed at the feet of the external, the immaterial: in short, our mass media. This institution paints a picture of mankind as dark and foreboding, not light and generous. Now, when I use this popular expression for our global communications system, I do not necessarily mean only those easily accessible images presented on television, by radio or through Google, to name but a few. I further think of our personal electronic appurtenances. We also disseminate misinformation through our FB, other forms of communication or, in fact, our own word-of-mouth. But I do not see the power that I have as an individual. Tragic, for my world view has a seminal influence on those around me. Try this yourself: when you leave an elevator, simple say, “Good bye!” Now I have attempted this experiment literally hundreds of times. I can “count on one hand” the amount of people that did not respond in the affirmative. Few of us do not love life or love each other. We have, however, been cowered into inaction by authority figures or by traditional concepts that we see as paragons of honor and virtue. As a society, as a fraternity of people, we are asked to accept war and violence: if I kill one person, it is called murder; if I kill ten, it is called mass murder; if I wear a uniform and kill hundreds, it is called valor or bravery – worthy of medals and awards. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But this is the truth. Go into a multitude of schools and look at the equipment: old and decaying in many cases. Now admire the nation’s war machines: state-of-the-art, technologically advanced, superior, sophisticated – the superlatives are astonishing. What is going on here, you may ask? Things are quite obviously proceeding in the wrong direction. This is an international problem. We would be foolish to single out and fault our own country. In America, 32,000,000 of its citizens don’t have any medical insurance: the focus is on “any.” (2) And yet, its weaponry is beyond “Star Wars” in its scope and breath. (3) How many evil men, imagined or real, can there possibly be? As Tolstoy tells us, “In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful. … We must not only cease our present desire for the growth of the state, but we must desire its decrease, its weakening.” Tolstoy was a Christian anarchist; (4) he did not believe that governments were necessary for the betterment of humanity. This is an argument without end and factions will continue to defend a strong state or a weakened one. What is true is that all men are my comrades. Regardless of my skin color, my blood is as red as yours. I personally opt for a modest initiative: respect for the other. In a class of boisterous young people, I simply stop talking. Stunningly soon, everyone is silent and attentive. I smile, laugh, hold doors, wait for pedestrians (when driving) and I am not unique, not naïve, and not alone. We are all ready for the seismic societal shift. It will come because the Earth’s resources will not tolerate much more abuse: Gaia’s anger grows on a daily basis: think the Tar Sands Fires. (5) I am an optimist: history will judge us well by our upcoming actions. The great intellectual and pundit Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) leaves us with a thought: Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.
A small joke: John owned a very old car. It was always breaking down, but with his talent for mechanics, he could seemingly always get it restarted. One afternoon on a deserted country road, his poor steel steed died one more time. He took out his tool box and began to tinker in the ready anticipation that she would easily spring to life, once again. All this was to no avail and try as he might, the motor would simply not reignite. In some frustration, he thrust the better part of his body under the engine hood to see if there was a wire corroded, disconnected or the like. As he was doing this, he felt the car begin to aggressively rock back and forth. He pulled his head out to have a look around. He immediately noticed a disheveled man audaciously attempting to tear off the rear bumper of the car. “What are you doing?” he shouted. “Common on: be fair” was the man’s reply. “We can easily share the metal from this old and derelict, abandoned car.” Â
This week, please ask yourself how you will prepare for the future and what this concept means to you? Â
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: We can no longer be silent. All of us feel the outrage of a disconnected world. It is our job as citizens, parents, teachers and educators to critically sift through the extant knowledge and give back insight, opinions and wisdom about the vast plateau of human possibilities.
Footnotes:
1)Â Â The Beatles – With a Little Help from My Friends
2)Â Â Â Key Facts about the Uninsured Population
3)Â Â Five American Weapons of War China Should Fear