Pretending something does not matter, does not make it matter less and just because you ignore something does not make it go away. As I write these words, I am faced with the mental critiquing of my own decision making throughout my life. Reflecting on what lead me here to this very moment preparing this literary submission as I have created a outlet to share and expose my views to the world. Writing a blog is not really a big deal yet sharing my opinions about how concerned I am about the statistical track records of our global leader’s decision-making process could be. It could open me up to all kinds of rhetorical feedback and may even label me as a rebellion, which I am okay, with being labelled as a rebellion. I am drawn to situations that allow me to act and speak up for those who are not able or who not know how do this for themselves. Unfortunately, the majority of the human population live their life pretending the current social and environmental injustices do not impact them; leading them to believe that they cannot care or that they did not cause it, so it is not their responsibility. In the last 10 years I have spent a lot of time engaging in research to help myself understand how we got here.
How did we get to a point where our children are addicted to devices that have the capability to build or tear down their self confidence and prompt and manipulate them to think a new way through the intel of social media algorithms? Or how have we allowed the absurd and abusive management of our food chain supply with mass production including the unnecessary slaughtering of animals? How have we approved non-profit organizations to place an illustrated logo on a can of tuna making it “ocean friendly” while millions of dolphins, sharks and so much of our ocean wildlife continue to be destroyed. As the human race continues to pretend, “WE THE PEOPLE” are depleting our natural supply of oxygen, contaminating our water and basically on a rapid trajectory towards our planets demise.
Our government is made up of systems driven by policies that are based on standards. I have created a hobby out of tracing back to the start of where these “standards” may have come from. No matter what I read, it all back tracks to US! YES, YOU, ME, WE are the ones who set these standards, which would tell me that if government is formed and through that formation, they are tasked with creating systems based on standards, then who really holds the torch? We do. I believe most people are unwilling to acknowledge this and look deeper into its truth for the fear that they may need to be responsible for something and accountability is something the brain does not like digest. This specific area is one I will write a lot of about, yet for now, I want to share something with you that I am intrigued by.
As a business improvement and development expert, the word “standards” is continually part of my communication. Holding people to a standard of practice or creating policies to enforce those standards is a common way of doing business and is the foundation of our political and economic infrastructures. But who sets the standards for how we are to behave in society? Who regulates the behaviours of those leading our countries or those who are referred to as the elite 1%? Again, we do. This ALL falls under our watch. We are the rulers of our own country and if you look closely we have a perfect track record of collectively handing over that power. I will save my views on that for another time. LOL.
I have seen the positive impacts of conscious citizenship, where new laws have been created and it is sad that in the last 50 years there has been more injustice within the justice system than there has been justice within the rights of the minorities. Politics and economics is not something I was always interested in, mainly because I did not understand it and it occurred boring. I think for most of my life I was too busy with “life” that the idea of getting involved in “how” my country was run was not a priority. Just like most of the population we are so busy surviving, that we are blinded to the fact that we have a say in how our countries are run, and I promise you, it is way beyond lining up, ticking off a box and submitting our vote.
I have so much to share about this topic and I think the place to park this for now, is with the following words of Abraham Lincoln, in hopes it may trigger you to begin your own journey in discovering your own power to create change. I recall being taught in history class that in 1863 in the United States of America at the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln in his speech spoke of a government “of the people, for the people, by the people.” Those words have stayed with me for a long time, even though I am a Canadian. As I continued to investigate his words, I discovered that his stand for a government “of the people, for the people, by the people” was one he may have been inspired by through the words expressed by a preacher named Theodore Parker in 1850 during a speech at the New England Anti-Slavery Convention.
“There is what I call the American idea. This idea demands, as the proximate organization thereof, a democracy, that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course a government after the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness sake, I will call it the idea of freedom.”
If we keep tracing back, we can find the words of Benjamin Disraeli in 1826 all the way back to the prologue of John Wycliffe’s translation of the bible in 1384. Not saying that these exact words are in the bible, he used these words to encourage people to read the bible themselves versus leaving it to priests and hierarchy of the church to dictate and translate what the “word” means for all of us.
In my humble opinion, the words in the bible are a true sharing of Gods message to us that we are free. That free will is what we have AND that no law or political agenda can take from us. Not all will use their God given right, yet it is there. We either have a democracy or we have a dictatorship, you cannot have both and you are either in or out, you get to choose. I am proud to say that I AM ALL IN!
