The hard part is that too many who live by the skin of their teeth world-wide cannot share in this. The day to day survival game takes one's eyes from the greater good of the world. When your children are starving or worse yet, dying, it can be very difficult to think on a global scale.
We in this country take too much of that for granted. It is not malicious, as some might think, but rather that even minimal comfort gives time for thoughts of other than one's self. It is this kind of suffering that the Buddha once wanted to eliminate. He hoped to help all those living to rise above daily suffering. Easier said than done. Too often it seems that it is not enough to wish love upon the world. We mean well with it, but it does not feed the belly, or bring the rain, or stop the wars. Good intentions must be followed by actions. There is the other problem- what actions do we take?
To give food for a day or a month doesn't solve starvation. To give money does not eliminate poverty. To dig for water may not stop the encroaching desert. And it has been proven emphatically that all the protests on home ground do little to stop the wars. The politicians
are too intent on playing power games, no matter the cost in life or land.
So what can we do?
No harder question can be asked. No answer is more difficult to arrive at, especially with such
a vast array of cultures vying for their individuality.
A world culture would be ideal, which is another problem. Giving up the Self to the greater good when someone or thing has been surpressing it is no small boon to ask.
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18 February, 2005
Obviously, I had no answers then, and even fewer now. Since the election here, things have started to feel a little treatening. Too many of the radical christian sects that believe the current president does in fact speak and think like they do, and thus believe they have the right to some sort of sweeping conversion of the country. It is scary. Civil liberties are being threatened by overt religious zealousness. Now, not everyone with the chosen title of christian can be lumped into this group, please understand. I may be pagan, but I have many christians around me who are not only tolerant, but supportive.
Awhile back, there was a long PBS series about the Roman empire, and they too went through something like this. I believe it is was Caesar Marcus who went to great lengths to "clean up" Roman society. The decadence had reached an alltime high and the Empire was in shambles as a result. This ex-military leader took over, basically declared marshall law and started his idea of reformation. His intent was at the very least, by all appearances this long afterwards, honest. He wanted a sturdy base for the Empire to stand on again, before it crumbled in upon itself. It didn't last more than three generations before the Caesars started pulling it apart again, but he did manage to keep things strong while he was alive. He HATED the job, but did it because he was the best for it, and dispassionate about it. The outcome wasn't for him personally- it was for the Empire.
That is what is lacking from the government of this country, and has been for many presidents. No single human can be given an apparent place of such power and not be corrupted by it at least a little. I suppose we can only hope to get one who isn't already too corrupt before he gets to that place, that he (or she- it is coming folks) has a vision based not on personal gain or glory, but truly a vision for the people he is supposed to be serving. Money speaks way too loudly in the election process now. If it isn't put under control, this nation will crumble in on itself. This same scenerio has occured time and time again in the history of humans. Few empires or kingdoms or whatever they might have refered to themselves as lasted more than a few centuries due usually to internal corruption.
Perhaps it is best if our attentions are drawn away by hardship and natural diaster. If we as a species don't have a whole lot of extra time to sit and contemplate things like personal worth and power, maybe we will stop doing stupid shit like killing each other over a difference of opinion. Perhaps we could do the planet as a whole a favour and kill ourselves into extinction.
I wouldn't like to see the things of beauty we are capable of making die with us, though they may anyway, but I do wonder sometimes if we wouldn't be better off with far fewer of us on the planet surface. I am merely an observer here. I wish I could offer more hope, but I don't think that's my job. I am here to make YOU think. You just might come up with a viable, logical, selfless answer....