This is my first entry into this new blog titled 'Citizens of the Planet Earth Unite'. I am starting this blog at the urging of a Facebook friend to write and to share some of my ideas with the world. He did not mean to say that 'I' have something to share but that how I choose to view the world, humanity, is shared by many others and it's incumbent upon me to verbalize it.
And so here we go.
In today's social-political climate in the United States it feels difficult to maintain any faith that all will end well. The current presidential election has shown how divided this country really is in a very public and real way. There appears to be a lot of anger, a lot of angst, a lot of fear and a lot of unfettered emotions raging between us Americans that is being aired for the entire world to see on social media and in the news media. The amount of fear fueled hatred that is being expressed by many as they heatedly discuss the candidate of their personal choice is very disheartening and is also a bit daunting.
In so many ways the people of this country have evolved when compared to the past where racism, sexism, xenophobia and white male dominance ruled our country without question and without being challenged. It has historically been a Caucasian, Christian man's world and in some ways it still is but things have improved for some segments of society in some ways. In spite of the 'little' improvement that has taken place there is much work to be done if we are to ever become the world leader and magnificent country that so many of us passionately claim that we are. To be clear this country, America, is a great country BUT not the greatest because if this world is to evolve into a place where all can thrive and live in peace we have got to stop quantifying how great one country is compared to others. This unrelenting need to prove to the rest of the world that we here in America are the best of the best of all people's on planet earth has run it's course. Today we are viewed, no doubt, as being arrogant, feeling that we are above common courtesy and/or morality, greedy and unable to come together as one country that truly believes in liberty and justice for all. Some may take these words as 'America bashing' however anyone with any intelligence or common sense can tell you that you can't change what you don't acknowledge; so to me acknowledging our arrogance, our greed, our propensity for xenophobia and racist driven views is the first step to coming together in a more productive, accepting, inviting and leader-like way.
There is much wisdom in the world, both past and present, that all citizens of the world can embrace and embody in our everyday lives. One of the wisest and most change inspiring quotes comes from Mahatma Gandhi a great leader who literally helped free his fellow Indian people from British subjugation and rule; who accomplished such a great and daunting task through peaceful protest but mostly through UNITY. Gandhi gave us many wise, wonderful and very useful words that today still carry power and grace in them. One of the most quoted phrases from Gandhi, 'Be the change that you wish to see in the world', is claimed by some to have been paraphrased from this actual statement attributed to him, "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.” In my mind it really doesn't matter what the actual words were but what the overall sentiment behind them is. When I read both statements they make equal sense and bear equal weight in value and worthiness of adopting as a way of being oneself.
In a nutshell when it all comes down to it, in my personal opinion, it is incumbent upon every single one of us to 'be the change' that we want to see in our world, in our country, in our community, in our social circle and in our family. The understandable angst and trepidation that we may each feel when faced with some of the heinous, horrific and completely nonsensical events that have occurred around the world cannot force us to feel as if we are surrounded by hateful, racist, sexist, xenophobic and dangerous people. We must come to terms with the fact that what we see, or even what we experience, in the world today is not all that is happening in the world today and therefore we can't allow ourselves to be overwhelmed or lose our faith in humanity.
We are ALL human beings. We ALL share the same DNA. We ALL share the same origin.
We who are 'aware' and who are 'awake' cannot be dragged down into a cesspool of hatred, mistrust and xenophobia. We who are aware and awake have a responsibility to the rest of the world. We must live as loudly and as unwaveringly as we possibly can in that we MUST be 'more' accepting of others, we MUST be 'more' loving of others, we MUST be 'more' compassionate, we MUST be 'more' tolerant of the beliefs of others, we Must be 'more' accepting of those who are different than ourselves and perhaps most of all we MUST be 'MORE' willing to ignore the hatred, the racism and the xenophobia that now exists in the world because the more we give it our attention the more power we are giving it.
WE can out-love, out-trust and out-unite those who choose isolationism over unity of humankind. So please in your daily lives remember to not be drawn into hatred or disharmony but instead love and treat thy neighbor as you would have your neighbor love and treat you and your family. Peace is possible; but it will never exist in actuality if we don't believe it and live it.
Namaste my fellow citizens of planet earth may your day be as wonderful and as loving as you are.
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