If We Don't Change - We Lose

Reading the few remaining newspapers that are still printing, getting your news on the internet, or listening to talk radio while in your car - a few ways to find out exactly what is going on in the world around you. We listen but we have a specific agenda in our minds about what really interests us and what will have an impact on our daily lives.
Being part of a world community, sometimes we get so absorbed in our own path that we "hear" what is going on but we really do not take it in or find it something to garner our concern. While every single one of us is human and a citizen of the entire world, so to speak, we usually just meander as to our local, state, and federal news items. If the truth be known, deep inside the recesses of our subconscious mind we have heard about the total and unrelenting abuse of people all over the world by their own governments or by warring factions that want to be their government. Darfur is one example, Mexico is still another, and the Guantanemo abuse story is old news to many of us. However, these atrocities happened, are happening, and while they may not be right there on our doorstep, we can all realize one issue. Cruelty and abhorrent behavior is on the rise and there seems to be no way of stopping it. We are repulsed by the news but we feel helpless and unable to do much about it. The "side effect" of feeling this way is that life loses some of its "special" and important assets, which is one reason why violence thrives and grows.
When a nation cannot feel pity and pain at the death and devastation of people of other ethnic, color, or religious beliefs, then we have given apathy a free reign in our thoughts. This is inherently dangerous to us as individuals and as a society. There is numbness that grows in our hearts and minds and when a child dies from bombs and war, we see it, read it, and it dies somewhere in our soul, because it is not "one of us." Bringing the issue closer to home, we pick and choose our political affiliations and being what they are, when a Republican does what a Democrat just might do but hasn't, they are praised and put up on a pedestal. When it is reversed, the Democrat is verbally stoned and the thought of "tar and feathering" is there but maybe not in so many words. This can be turned around with the Democrat being on top and the Republican battered. It just depends on what side of the aisle you are on.
There is such a very transparent malady that we all see and hear, but many choose not to deal with. We no longer judge issues on their merit, but we decide the outcomes by petty grievances held against a certain party, nationality, or religious sect. We, as a people, have lost our ability to do our homework, regardless of what side we sway towards, and to do what is right because the facts speak for themselves and there is only one right way - the way that will benefit humanity and do the best by those who are suffering. Whether we want to acknowledge Darfur, an Iraqi child killed by misguided rage, or something as close to home as the danger our young people are in. in the battle of drugs and sexual exploitation, we need to stand up as adults, and act as adults. Mexican drug problems have crossed the borders into our country, brutality in violence is astonishing right here and right now, and even harsh outrage against those in our government needs to have the restraints of civility and just actions - not demeaning people of different color, or bank account balances. The rich sometimes feel they have all the answers and they deal with the less fortunate, never knowing what it is like to go to bed hungry or to lose a job and your pride at the same time. They have never experienced it and therefore do not have the right to assert they know the answers. Wall Street cannot take taxpayer dollars and "party" while those who gave stand in long lines for food stamps and unemployment benefits. While their existence is worlds apart from day to day experience, they need to examine, and find solutions that will benefit all and not just a few chosen ones such as their families, relatives, and friends.
The point of all this is that we as human beings need to begin to "walk in someone else's shoes" before we complain that they do not hurt or bind. We need to do less of the "talk the talk" and more of the "lean on me" mind sets. Lately, prominent and highly publicized government officials argue, and denouce each other, no matter the issue. This example to our young is that if you are on one side of the fence, make sure that the rocks and stones you throw are indiscrimately aimed, just so long as they hit a target. It doesn't matter if you know that what the other side is doing is right and is for the good of all, pick up that stick and strike with all your might. In the end, you just might convince yourself right along with all the others you are trying to convince. Power after all is the prize and control is the sought after gold pot at the end of the rainbow.
Civility demands a change in our attitudes, and we must pick our fights against those who kill and brutalize, not those who work toward peaceful negotiations and ways to correct crooked paths. Party affiliations, religious rights, and ethic barriers do not solve problems for the multitide, but they do create a gap that cannot be bridged or water too deep to tread. We were blessed with minds and hearts, and if we don't use them to the best of our abilities, then we have no one to blame when the war comes into our own back yards, and it is our children who learn that "might makes right" and "the bottom line is all that really matters." Those who steal money from others in scams and in bail-outs that were caused by their own greed and inept behavior are thieves and should be treated as such. Rewarding them with perks and allowing them to reside in regal surroundings only teaches everyone that money is the goal and greed is the way to get there. Those who are abusive to children, the elderly or to those who win over them in competitions or campaigns, they are the true "terrorists" and their reign is unacceptable and needs to be overthrown.
Facing issues, using our intelligence, and working so that "all" people live in the best of ways in the best of times is our goal on this planet. There is no color we should see, there is no ethnicity we cannot accept, and there is no religious or party affiliation we can't throw aside and work for unity and freedom. We are not the color of our skin, or the church we were raised in. We are not a government party or a chosen ancestry - we are people and we are "equal" because God did not give up His/Her job just yet. The position is filled and we, while only a small pebble on the beach, we are a vital and vigorous entity that can find solutions and reach across oceans, aisles, and prosperity inequalities. We can, but we have to want to - this is the first step.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009