When I was little, I just accepted things for what they were. Happily, I accepted that my home was heated, food showed up on the table, "God" had certain rules I should follow, and America was the greatest country on Earth.
I started questioning things in life around the age of 13. My questions led to various conclusions; sometimes I agreed with what I'd been taught and sometimes I disagreed. In the past 15 years, I feel like I've found direction on the most important questions (religion, career path). Some bigger questions have come up in the past 18 months, though. As I have focused on poverty issues, questions have come up, like "Why are there still hungry people on this planet?" and "Why do 2,000 children have to die everyday from malaria alone - an easily prevented and treated disease?"
My career decisions have brought me back to school, which is why I'm currently studying economics. The economics department at my university has worked to personalize my undergraduate studies, so that I can focus on development issues in particular - which has been SUPER awesome.
The problem is, the more I learn about our country, our world, and the systems that keep it all functioning, the more convinced I am that we all need to start asking more questions.
For those interested in looking into some of these questions, I can recommend four very compelling documentaries:
The Corporation
An Inconvenient Truth
Food, Inc.
A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
Ultimately I want to leave the world a better place than how it would have been without my coming. In order to do that, I feel like I need a clear understanding of where there are problems. And ... I'm finding that there are problems EVERYWHERE. The whole system is a mess!
What are we doing? Why are we living our lives complacently, with our eyes closed? Why are we so determined to hide from accountability? When was the last time you asked one of these questions? And ... have you done anything to follow up, learn more, and take the necessary action towards change?
I've lived 28 years in ignorance. I have learned more because I have sought education. But I wish we had a culture in our families and communities of asking questions, seeking answers, and sharing what we learn (and not spreading stupid ass nonsense.) I wish we had a truth-loving culture, which I feel is DEFINITELY NOT the general flow right now.
My charity has an opportunity for an inside track to get HUGE funding from Monsanto. HUGE funding, from the devil itself? I can't in good conscience pursue it - but if I hadn't sought information and education, I wouldn't have known that we'd be dancing with the very devil that works against our worthy cause.
Down with ignorance. The world, the WHOLE world (our nation included) is ready for real leaders, heroes who will take action and stand up for our future and our children's futures. You in?
COUNT ME IN ! ! !
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, I'm probably just a dinky little drop in the bucket.
It's easy to feel overwhelmed and under appreciated/unacknowledged in today's world of bought-off media, guileful corporations, pork barreling politicians and greed-based thinking.
I have decided to address this in my own way: by DOING what I think needs to be done ie: recycling, composting, growing a garden, keeping myself open minded and educated, not buying in to fear-based manipulation tactics, avoiding petroleum based and corn based products as best I can (dude those two things are in EVERYTHING), actively seeking out, researching and supporting existing causes, walking rather than driving, etc . . . and EDUCATING/RAISING MY CHILDREN in a way that such things are inherent in their belief systems as "the norm" as opposed to "special cases". Think about it -- I have 4 kids - by merely educating THEM, and raising them to be conscious and conscientious, I have already QUADRUPLED my efforts . . . effortlessly.
Also - although I am only one drop in the bucket, I'm gonna be a drop of dye instead of water. One drop of ME, and the whole bucket changes! ROCK ON! ~dRM
You're awesome and smart.
ReplyDelete