how to change the world, first draft
It's stupid. It's stupid but I'm going to do it anyways.
If you want to read about my philosophical rantings you can read my public journal synanesthesia, which this is a post from. Just don't tell me about it, because I write there on the theory that no one reads it so, therefore, it doesn't matter what I say.
The following is unedited, incomplete and was written in the middle of the night. But I'm trying to get at something important. Please don't nit-pick me. I don't really care about details at the moment, just the big things. So spelling is out and a failure to grasp basic concepts is in.
Not that you're going to read it anyways.
Tell me if this seems reasonable:
Activists suck. They don't work together. They get bogged down in private conflicts which prevent them from really looking at what is important {because they can't agree on what is important?) We all know this. We all can tell stories about stupid clusterfucks in what should have been an awesome revolution. Well, I'm no different from all the stupid fuckwits out there. Here's my own private suggestion for global change:
How to change the world (THEORETICAL):
First of all, you have to start with yourself. Unless you, yourself are a decent human being who makes every effort to treat others with kindness and compassion, who practices what you preach, and who puts others before yourself you have no chance of making a postive effect on others. This is not about you. This is not about how wonderful/visionary/intelligent/whatever you are. You are changing the world because the state of human affairs breaks your heart. You are changing the world because you love the world. You are changing the world because you are a part of the world. All of these things are important. Got that?
Don't get me wrong. You don't have to be a saint. Just make a little effort. Talk less and listen more. Try to agree with people on the little not-so-important issues.
Secondly you have consider the nature of the world. Think of you mother, if you have a loving, supporting mother. Otherwise, think of my mother. My mother loves me and wants me to have the best possible life. However, she believes that I should do certain things (like dress appropriately) in order to improve the quality of my life which I disagree with. She would like to see me change because she thinks it would be for my good, and she does this without taking into consideration the fact that I might, myself know what is best for me.
This might just seem like petty groping about my mother, but I'm trying to draw a connection between her and you (no offense to either of you). You have no right to treat the world like a young, immature child. If you try to change the world in a way which it doesn't think is good for it then you will just end up pissing it off and it will run away from home and become a crack whore. The world, or what I am calling the world, mostly for dramatic effect, is not only not a child, but an extremely large group of adult with, yes, a smaller but still substatial number of children mixed in. There is no way in hell any one scheme of living is going to be acceptable to everyone, which is one of the reasons globalization is a bad thing. You are going to want to change things that people do not want to be changed. If this were not the case than there would be no need for you. But it means that you have to be very selective about what you do change, and about how you approach the problem. Parents are often advised to make as few rules as possible and to chose their battles, and i think that this is very good advice. I cannot stress enough, though, that you yourself are part of the world and that change begin in you. If you think that people should act a certain way or do certain things you better act that way and do those things first before you try going around and convincing others that your way is the right one. You might just discover the difficulty of what you're asking. Serving as a role model can be more convincing than any argument, and practicing what you preach will help to establish your legitimacy.
Thirdly, you need to be part of the world you are going to change. If you are going to represent people who are disadvantaged make sure you know the people you are representing. If you do not have the means to meet them because of geographic reasons get to know people who know them. Make sure that you represent people who are okay with you representing them. Make sure you are asking for things that they want. Huge amounts of effort are wasted in getting things for people who don't know what the hell to do with them. The classic example is the story of the refugees who were provided with cans of food and had no idea how to use a can opener. The Afgahanies who receieved food packages from the united states containing pb and j and fed it to their animals. When you don't know the people who you are trying to help how the hell will you know when you are being successful? It's just egotistical and remember; you can't change the world if you yourself are not up to par. Egotism is not going to be of assistance.
So those are the things you need to establish right off the bat.
As I said, you're no saint. You should keep this in mind for a number of reasons.
1. You are not perfect. If you try to perfect yourself before you start changing the world you're never going to get there.
2. You will never learn to play the accordian if you don't practice. Similarily, you'll never achieve the things you want in life if you don't practice. Just as you don't expect you be able to play perfectly the first time you pick up an instrument you shouldn't expect that you'll be perfect at being a person right off the bat. It's the trying that's important. You will act for selfish reasons, you will lose your temper, you will break your diet. The important thing to keep in mind is that you'll never get there if you don't practice. Being a good human being requires more dedication than playing a musical instrument, but also has more practical implications. No one is perfect at either thing right off the bat, but if you give up on the first try then you'll never get anywhere. So when you fail, and you will fail, you need to get back up and try again. You'll probably spend your whole life trying and failing, but as long as you measure success as the times when you don't fail rather than a complete (impossible) lack of failure you'll discover that it's worth it.
3. You are just as bad at that person you alway complain about, in your own way. That bad driver in front of you, he's really pissing you off, isn't he? After all, you never drive badly. That person who didn't say 'excuse me' when they bumped into you? Horrible. You always say 'excuse me'. If you would just stop getting so pissed off at everyone who does things that you don't like and consider how you yourself aren't exactly perfect, then you'll probably be a lot happier about life.
4. No matter how good it (or you) gets it can always get better. This is the greatest thing about life. Of course you're not perfect! Perfection is not attainable. You'll always be able to get better and better and better. Every single day. And when you get better your life gets better and your world gets better.
5. You're not a saint. You're not a superhero. If you end up saving the life of one person then you've accomplished something undescribably amazing. And you can do that by donating blood or adopting a child. Now think about how much more amazing it will be when you save two people. You don't have to make everything in the world better. As long as you achieve something, as long as you can say 'I made someone's life better' then you've change the world. You haven't ended poverty, you haven't solved the whatever crises, but you have changed the world in some tiny, but not insignificant way. And think about this. If everyone made a commitment to changing the world then the world would change. Even if one person out of every hundred made the effort, even if it was one in a thousand then something huge could happen. The truth is that we can't change the world on our own, but and even bigger truth is that WE'RE NOT ALONE.
How to change the world (PRACTICAL)
A. PAY ATTENTION
1. Think about the lives of others
2. Make an effort to learn about others.
3. Help people when you see people who need help. Assist a passerby with a heavy load. Give a homeless person some food.
4. Try to be aware of the needs of those around you and if their needs are satisfied.
B. CONSIDER YOURSELF
1. Think about ALL OF YOUR ACTIONS.
2. Consider how your consumerism may support industries whose practices you may find unacceptable.
3. Educate yourself about the corportations and organizations you invest in/purchase from/work for
4. BOYCOTT organizations and corporations whose practices you find unacceptable.
5. INFORM those organizations and corporations of your boycott and your reasons for them.
6. Consider how your own selfish/self-rightout/self-centered actions may harm others. Consider that your actions may alienate a cause you are trying to support. For example, think of how the 'militant' vegan has helped to turn others away from veganism. Consider that your actions may harm your relationships with others.
7. Think about whether you are putting your wants about the needs of others. Consider whether your continued support of something you may find morally reprehensible may result in your desire to satisfy your wants at the cost of anothers needs.
8. Recognise moral correctness as one of your needs.
9. Think about morality and consider the morality of your actions.
DISCUSS
1. Ask others about their own morality. Discuss what they find right and wrong.
2. Listen to what other people indentify as their needs.
3. Discuss the need for morality in society.
4. Educate people about the reprehensible actions of organizations and corportations.
5. Listen to the ideas and thoughts of others.
6. Share with others your own ideas.
PARTICIPATE
1. Support organizations and buisinesses you think are morally correct.
2. Tell organizations and buinessess that you support them and why.
3. Join groups which you think are good.
4. If you have identified a need in your community which is not being filled and you need support in order to help to fill the need, then take the responsibility of organizing others to help you to fill the need.
It's just a rough, incomplete draft.
It's just a suggestion
If you want to read about my philosophical rantings you can read my public journal synanesthesia, which this is a post from. Just don't tell me about it, because I write there on the theory that no one reads it so, therefore, it doesn't matter what I say.
The following is unedited, incomplete and was written in the middle of the night. But I'm trying to get at something important. Please don't nit-pick me. I don't really care about details at the moment, just the big things. So spelling is out and a failure to grasp basic concepts is in.
Not that you're going to read it anyways.
Tell me if this seems reasonable:
Activists suck. They don't work together. They get bogged down in private conflicts which prevent them from really looking at what is important {because they can't agree on what is important?) We all know this. We all can tell stories about stupid clusterfucks in what should have been an awesome revolution. Well, I'm no different from all the stupid fuckwits out there. Here's my own private suggestion for global change:
How to change the world (THEORETICAL):
First of all, you have to start with yourself. Unless you, yourself are a decent human being who makes every effort to treat others with kindness and compassion, who practices what you preach, and who puts others before yourself you have no chance of making a postive effect on others. This is not about you. This is not about how wonderful/visionary/intelligent/whatever you are. You are changing the world because the state of human affairs breaks your heart. You are changing the world because you love the world. You are changing the world because you are a part of the world. All of these things are important. Got that?
Don't get me wrong. You don't have to be a saint. Just make a little effort. Talk less and listen more. Try to agree with people on the little not-so-important issues.
Secondly you have consider the nature of the world. Think of you mother, if you have a loving, supporting mother. Otherwise, think of my mother. My mother loves me and wants me to have the best possible life. However, she believes that I should do certain things (like dress appropriately) in order to improve the quality of my life which I disagree with. She would like to see me change because she thinks it would be for my good, and she does this without taking into consideration the fact that I might, myself know what is best for me.
This might just seem like petty groping about my mother, but I'm trying to draw a connection between her and you (no offense to either of you). You have no right to treat the world like a young, immature child. If you try to change the world in a way which it doesn't think is good for it then you will just end up pissing it off and it will run away from home and become a crack whore. The world, or what I am calling the world, mostly for dramatic effect, is not only not a child, but an extremely large group of adult with, yes, a smaller but still substatial number of children mixed in. There is no way in hell any one scheme of living is going to be acceptable to everyone, which is one of the reasons globalization is a bad thing. You are going to want to change things that people do not want to be changed. If this were not the case than there would be no need for you. But it means that you have to be very selective about what you do change, and about how you approach the problem. Parents are often advised to make as few rules as possible and to chose their battles, and i think that this is very good advice. I cannot stress enough, though, that you yourself are part of the world and that change begin in you. If you think that people should act a certain way or do certain things you better act that way and do those things first before you try going around and convincing others that your way is the right one. You might just discover the difficulty of what you're asking. Serving as a role model can be more convincing than any argument, and practicing what you preach will help to establish your legitimacy.
Thirdly, you need to be part of the world you are going to change. If you are going to represent people who are disadvantaged make sure you know the people you are representing. If you do not have the means to meet them because of geographic reasons get to know people who know them. Make sure that you represent people who are okay with you representing them. Make sure you are asking for things that they want. Huge amounts of effort are wasted in getting things for people who don't know what the hell to do with them. The classic example is the story of the refugees who were provided with cans of food and had no idea how to use a can opener. The Afgahanies who receieved food packages from the united states containing pb and j and fed it to their animals. When you don't know the people who you are trying to help how the hell will you know when you are being successful? It's just egotistical and remember; you can't change the world if you yourself are not up to par. Egotism is not going to be of assistance.
So those are the things you need to establish right off the bat.
As I said, you're no saint. You should keep this in mind for a number of reasons.
1. You are not perfect. If you try to perfect yourself before you start changing the world you're never going to get there.
2. You will never learn to play the accordian if you don't practice. Similarily, you'll never achieve the things you want in life if you don't practice. Just as you don't expect you be able to play perfectly the first time you pick up an instrument you shouldn't expect that you'll be perfect at being a person right off the bat. It's the trying that's important. You will act for selfish reasons, you will lose your temper, you will break your diet. The important thing to keep in mind is that you'll never get there if you don't practice. Being a good human being requires more dedication than playing a musical instrument, but also has more practical implications. No one is perfect at either thing right off the bat, but if you give up on the first try then you'll never get anywhere. So when you fail, and you will fail, you need to get back up and try again. You'll probably spend your whole life trying and failing, but as long as you measure success as the times when you don't fail rather than a complete (impossible) lack of failure you'll discover that it's worth it.
3. You are just as bad at that person you alway complain about, in your own way. That bad driver in front of you, he's really pissing you off, isn't he? After all, you never drive badly. That person who didn't say 'excuse me' when they bumped into you? Horrible. You always say 'excuse me'. If you would just stop getting so pissed off at everyone who does things that you don't like and consider how you yourself aren't exactly perfect, then you'll probably be a lot happier about life.
4. No matter how good it (or you) gets it can always get better. This is the greatest thing about life. Of course you're not perfect! Perfection is not attainable. You'll always be able to get better and better and better. Every single day. And when you get better your life gets better and your world gets better.
5. You're not a saint. You're not a superhero. If you end up saving the life of one person then you've accomplished something undescribably amazing. And you can do that by donating blood or adopting a child. Now think about how much more amazing it will be when you save two people. You don't have to make everything in the world better. As long as you achieve something, as long as you can say 'I made someone's life better' then you've change the world. You haven't ended poverty, you haven't solved the whatever crises, but you have changed the world in some tiny, but not insignificant way. And think about this. If everyone made a commitment to changing the world then the world would change. Even if one person out of every hundred made the effort, even if it was one in a thousand then something huge could happen. The truth is that we can't change the world on our own, but and even bigger truth is that WE'RE NOT ALONE.
How to change the world (PRACTICAL)
A. PAY ATTENTION
1. Think about the lives of others
2. Make an effort to learn about others.
3. Help people when you see people who need help. Assist a passerby with a heavy load. Give a homeless person some food.
4. Try to be aware of the needs of those around you and if their needs are satisfied.
B. CONSIDER YOURSELF
1. Think about ALL OF YOUR ACTIONS.
2. Consider how your consumerism may support industries whose practices you may find unacceptable.
3. Educate yourself about the corportations and organizations you invest in/purchase from/work for
4. BOYCOTT organizations and corporations whose practices you find unacceptable.
5. INFORM those organizations and corporations of your boycott and your reasons for them.
6. Consider how your own selfish/self-rightout/self-centered actions may harm others. Consider that your actions may alienate a cause you are trying to support. For example, think of how the 'militant' vegan has helped to turn others away from veganism. Consider that your actions may harm your relationships with others.
7. Think about whether you are putting your wants about the needs of others. Consider whether your continued support of something you may find morally reprehensible may result in your desire to satisfy your wants at the cost of anothers needs.
8. Recognise moral correctness as one of your needs.
9. Think about morality and consider the morality of your actions.
DISCUSS
1. Ask others about their own morality. Discuss what they find right and wrong.
2. Listen to what other people indentify as their needs.
3. Discuss the need for morality in society.
4. Educate people about the reprehensible actions of organizations and corportations.
5. Listen to the ideas and thoughts of others.
6. Share with others your own ideas.
PARTICIPATE
1. Support organizations and buisinesses you think are morally correct.
2. Tell organizations and buinessess that you support them and why.
3. Join groups which you think are good.
4. If you have identified a need in your community which is not being filled and you need support in order to help to fill the need, then take the responsibility of organizing others to help you to fill the need.
It's just a rough, incomplete draft.
It's just a suggestion