Many times I have been voicing my disagreement to statements saying that someone out there (this someone can take many shapes, colors and forms) is trying to control the world or the masses.
Granted, half of my opposition was based on logic – I don’t see who would waste their lives
to such a noble purpose. The other half was based on hope.
Back in 2009 I wrote a tiny bit called “Evolution”, where the two halves were combined. I still want to believe that, united, people can not be controlled.
However in most situations what we want and what we can get are two different things.
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One day, he is strong enough and trusted enough to leave him an escape opportunity. He returns to his father’s lands and rallies some people to his cause: restoring the law and peace in his father’s lands. Twenty strong become one hundred strong as the young lord’s justice, courage and vengeance gives his people what they have been missing in all the decades of lawlessness, fear, war and plunder.
With great support from his people, each pitching in what they can, he retakes his castle. Now he is able to defend his people against rogues as well as his ancestral enemies. He also makes for an apt lord, his knowledge of his enemies putting him one step ahead. And he lives happily ever after or something.
Now, that’s a cute story and in real life such justice is rarely seen within one’s lifetime. Karma does her thing, but on her own terms. Most of us will never live to see the wrongs done to us set right. Not if we wait for karma. Maybe karma decides to party one day and she has a bad hangover. She’s human after all, right?! I mean she is a concept of ours. We created her and she is flawed like all else we create. So do we really want to let karma work her magic? I would say no. But many others will say yes.
Nonetheless, from all the people who said no and wanted to take matters into their own hands, too few will be on the same page. They will all have different ideas about how to right the wrongs and to what extent. And most of all, each will think that his idea is better and that he should lead his peers to justice. Now what chances does the most rightful thing have if the people behind it are divided by pride? None.
And we see a lot of that going around nowadays. Revolutions don’t really happen in the Western world. Why? One word: Individualism.
This individualism is the plague of our time. We fend for ourselves, we don’t trust those around us. These things are not necessarily bad. Not entirely. But from them stems a big bad, which is lack of unity. The many find their strength in numbers, common goal, discipline and resolve. In a society where individualism is the most sacred, the numbers will never be high enough, the goals will be plagued by individual interests, individual interests will lead to lack of discipline, each chasing for what he/she wants. Needless to say, the resolve of the group will weaken with every passing day. And we have seen this many times. Too many times.
In the eastern world, where the community is placed above the individual, matters are somewhat different. Of course, there are exceptions, as always. But the truth of it is that revolutions have happened in the past three decades where? Think communism, think all the latest revolutions and social unrest. When united against a common foe, people have succeeded. At least until personal gains started taking priority. Once the new order is established, everyone tries to make the best of it too soon. Like a conqueror that wins his battle but falls to plunder, rape and celebration before securing the victory.
Now, about division. We are all divided because we follow our own interest, we watch our own arse. Scientists chase Nobel prizes, journalists chase Pulitzers, actors chase Oscars. Politicians want to go down in history as big names. And each and every one of us chase higher profits, more recognition for our work, a bigger house, a better car… And we all forget that we actually don’t need so much to live and that in a just society we would get all those and more. We would be happier, with less stress, fear and frustration.
But we have been broken. We have been raised by our parents with words like “you are the most beautiful and the smartest”, which made us a bit too confident in our own capacity or, at the least, idiots who underestimate our peers. We have been raised to chase luxury, more of it than we need. Our incapacity to achieve it derives from many factors. But this chase makes us forget and it makes us turn a blind eye to many things: “I have a house, a car, more will come in time. Best keep my head down and all will be sorted out for me”.
Newsflash: Nothing ever gets sorted out by itself. In a perfect world where the law of balance would be left to do its work it would. But we live in a world far from perfect, where the most ambitious and less honest don’t back down. They don’t keep their heads down. And among us, the rest, some think to fight fire with fire and start walking the same path. All that gives us is a divided world, where few will have a lot and many will have little to nothing soon enough.
We think we are free. Yeah, we are free until the financial system crashes, until our banks come for our homes, until our boss fires us and our government says “We have to cut social welfare”, leaving us to fend for our selves without resources other than our brains, body and will.
That is not freedom. However big your house and however plentiful your meals, there is no honor and freedom in them as long as children die of hunger and diseases you never worry about because they are treatable. There is no honor in donations either. So you think that if you give a third of your wealth to charity you’re off the hook. You’re not. Don’t give a man a fish, teach him to fish instead. His benefits will be greater.
There is no freedom in a world where the few fear the rise of the many. Fear is not freedom. What do you do when you are afraid as a kid? Hide under the blanket or gather some courage to face the dark and look out the window at the terrible storm.
I am afraid for my future. Aren’t you? Should we all hide under the blanket? Or face the storm? What is it going to do to us? Make us wet? Plus, if there’s many of us we can have some ideas about how to best pass through it without too much damage, right?
It is so sad that in such a brilliant world, magnificent, we need a calamity to unite. Will we wait for the end of the world to try and stop it?
It is so sad we have become so lame, crippled, and arrogant that we think someone should give us freedom, someone should give us justice, someone should make us happy, someone should make our lives better, someone should get rid of hunger and disease. Who would you like to do that for you? What’s your part in it? Why would you deserve it? Why should anyone give you anything for free if you don’t give anything to others? If you do, and you still don’t get a fair share of it back, than fucking take it, but do it right. Learn to be selfish and individualistic when it counts, not when you show off your new car and a fancy pair of boots.
And now, at the end of this whatever-this-is, I realize the title is wrong. We don’t stand, we are on our backs, while the best of us crawl. Standing takes some backbone.
