"I won't buy the things I don't need" instead of "They make us buy things we don't need"
"I'll never buy food that contains palm oil" instead of "They're poisoning us with palm oil"
"I won't buy food in the plastic package" instead of "Look at these dreary large corporations, they are ruining our environment" (though many of them really do)
"I don't watch the TV" instead of "We're all victims of propaganda!"
"Let's help people in need" instead of "Why doesn't the State help people in need?"
"Guys, don't visit whorehouses" instead of "Lechery is everywhere!"
"I have to learn" instead of "I'm dumb"
"I'll buy the album of my favorite band" instead of "Today most music is shit"
etc.,etc...
Feudalism has been gradually wiped out on most of the planet. Slave ownership is a criminal offense today. But so many people I see around behave as if Planet Earth is not their home but a kind of third-rate pub, where they are not very welcome in the first place. They behave as if their existence belongs to some other creature - hence, they don't notice their own sins, faults and weaknesses, because think that someone else is responsible. The devil is in the detail and in our personal daily choice.
I know, that a lot of shit comes from governments and, in some cases, from large businesses. An ordinary person can't immediately wipe out an air-polluting plant. Or he can't stop the officials from executing some disadvantageous decisions (anti-Russian sanctions in EU and the ban on European food in Russia). However, we are at least free to write a note of protest, to campaign against certain policies, to behave responsibly in our personal lives. One should remember that not everyone under Hitler or Stalin were betraying their friends, neighbors and family members.
But I see so many people who don't bother to change anything in their approach if even it's not life-threatening. They return to abusive husbands, they continue working on shitty jobs or drinking with no attempt to make a change. It was quite late when I felt that I was the owner of my life - and nobody else, and I'm responsible for things that concern me personally - either environment or culture. I wish it started earlier - much earlier.
Whining is easier than being selective in your lifestyle and behaving responsibly. But if you have a toxic habit to blame the "bad guys" for your personal failures, one day they may really steal your private life and your existing in general.
Beautifully said @olivera-despina! It is much easier to blame others than to look into ourselves. But there is definitely a propagated culture nowadays of "me, me, me" and of not caring about other people/the environment, and it takes both courage AND effort to avoid these. The change we want to see in the world most definitely starts within ourselves, and the time for peaceful revolution is well overdue. But it many ways it has already begun e.g. organic food initiatives, non-centralized currencies etc. etc.
Peace and love.
My wife and I have both been in the "helping/healing" fields for many years, and real change starts with your approach to life... much like your list up at the top. The other week I came across a bit of truth in an article that has stuck with me: "You don't reduce your carbon footprint by retweeting Greenpeace, you reduce it by giving up your SUV and riding your bike."
I think perhaps a lot of the apathy and "stuck" people are the result of a false belief that there is some kind of "it" that's going to make one's life better... there isn't. There's US. It begins with US.
Great post!
Be the change you wish to see in the world. That should be everyone's motto. Nice write-up.
I keep completely !!! This should be a reminder for each day for all ... but in many ways people are simply mechanical biological zombies who do not know in what kind of garbage to direct their own future ...
Great post! Agree with you completely!