People and Person
When governments fail the people, something happens to people, but does something happen to a person? Some might say that the two go together, are the same. I disagree. People is more than a plural, it is something else. It is an entity. An entity is something more than individual; it is an organism. But so is a person. A person, a human, is composed of organs, these being composed of organized molecules, formed from atoms, and so forth. People, being an organism, is composed of persons, humans, but operate on such a different level. Organs in a person operate by their separate coded function, directed by the brain, itself an organ. A person, as part of people, are not necessarily directed by one person, a brain if you will, but by a direction all the same. That person may share a singular idea with a group of people, and with that idea, operate to a singular goal. Some may call this a herd mentality, that it is merely an animal instinct we follow. But it is more than instinct. Instinct is bred by matters beyond choice except to survive. People choose to go beyond just survival, they choose to thrive. That is more than instinct, it is thought and imagination. Whether it be for selfish reasons or for unselfish is a separate matter.
But to return to the beginning point, on whether something may happen to a person when a government fails them. Of course it entirely depends on the way the government failed. A government can fail a teacher when it decides not to adequately budget a school. But does that affect a conductor or architect, when they have already received their education? Perhaps it can also be illustrated with an organ of a person. Is a colon affected when a drug important for heart function is no longer introduced into the body? Perhaps not right away, but if the heart were to fail because of this stoppage, then the colon would in turn fail due to the lack of oxygenated blood run through it. Without proper education, the architect or conductor would in time retire, without anyone to take over their position. The position they held would fail and cease to exist. Many corollaries could be drawn, many so distant that it would be difficult to immediately draw the line of effect between the two, but it would be there, not directly, but through a chain of events, of persons, it would happen with differing results.
We have lived in a country for so long, it is difficult to realize the relation we share with the government. People may speak against it, may express confusion as to certain choices made. But as a society we are today, two truths are existent, if not evident: We as a people depend on the government to continue, to maintain our existence. A government depends on a person to continue. A person once said that people shouldn’t ask what their government could do for them, but what a person could do for their government. Our individuality is as important today, as it was when we first realized our sapience, our capacity for choice. Our symbiosis is becoming even more important as we as a civilization, a society, a species grows. What becomes more evident and important to realize, is our symbiosis as a people is more than just humans. Our planet, our home, is an organism as well. And like a person, we have to take care of our organs to survive.
When governments fail the people, they also affect a person, but they also affect so much more, as has become so evident in this year alone. We stand at the brink of killing our larger organism, our planet, our home, by not acting to keep every organ and part of our larger body healthy and alive. When we first learned to use tools, we assumed the role of caretaker of this world. It is time we, as a people, and every person, begin to assume that responsibility and keep ourselves alive. Same as our government must also assume the responsibility as its caretaker of its country. When one country fails its function, it is as much the same as if an organ in a person failed. We are a people, and have been for many centuries. It is now time we begin to fathom that we are now a world.