Thanks
]]>From conception on we are conditioned by our experiences (parents, school, religion, government, media, etc.). Fortunately we can and do change. Genetics is not destiny.
When I was much younger I traveled with books, and later I was in a large library that had installed its first computer based catalog. I looked up everything I could find on creativity. Though most of it was not helpful some of it was special. The trouble is that we and our librarians are not really good at finding truth as we generally have an agenda that limits our vision and understanding. Most books tell us what we want to hear. Thus we are not challenged. Libraries collect entertainment and facts, but little truth.
It is the relationships we have that matter, be they with people, animals, the environment etc. Life is not a game.
People love their jobs. Love their cars. Their houses. Their routines. Their prejudgments and stereotypes. Simple people need a simple life. It’s as simple as that.
The most you can do is try to grab a few “Neo’s” who want out of the so called Matrix that we’ve built around ourselves. But in order for the world to change, people need to want it. However people, America in particular, want change without compromise. They don’t want to give up what they have grown so fond of over the decades.
]]>It’s like Kerouac for the 21st century.
But I think it’s down to your mind and age as well. Some people (the majority?) are happier living with what they think of as security, and close to loved ones, and it’s a better life for them.
]]>When my husband, a haemophiliac was infected with HIV/HCV through American multi-nationals prioritising profit over safety…exporting plasma from US prisons round the world as “treatment” it forced my family to re-evaluate our existance.
I have always been someone who thinks outside the box and our initial response was to say hey, lets get the most out of life and go travel. So we packed our rucksacks complete with syringes for plasma treatment, some schoolbooks for our son who was nine at the time and disappeared round the world for the next 2 years.
What that did was free us up to adopt a difference perspective on life…make us realise that many people were far worse off than us in their day by day struggles but there were also significant numbers that had in fact more positive lives than those in the the west in terms of their indomitable will to adapt and survive, maintain community values and uphold their spirituality.
Our experience of travel and volunteering and also my husband no longer suffering the stigma of an HIV label (as we mostly kept that fact to ourselves) gave us a freedom to enjoy, explore ourselves and our environment and prepare for what was to come.
One thing I disagree with is Simon Black’s line that quote “I think that the notion that you can have some grassroots campaign, change the system and fight the man is frankly bullshit. I don’t see it being possible. It really is counter productive, at the end of the day you have yourself and your family to worry about”
No Simon it is because of living outside the box and being open to learning and new experiences globally that we CAN change the system step by step not just for ourselves but the wider community…no -one said it would be easy but it is possible…
On my return I began “grassroots” campaigning on global health/human rights..which continued after the death of my husband and led me to university first as a student and then to teach on an MA in Activism and Social Change where I teach from life experience…
The campaigning which included extensive use of the media…has resulted in changes in legislation, in national and international health policies, bringing multi-nationals to task and governments to account…you just have to be creative and believe that nothing is impossible…
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/about/CI/CP/societynow/issue4/blood_trade.aspx
]]>We’ve been listening to the mantra of “Manifest Destiny is <– thataway (West)," for over 500 years, and the folks who got here first have been capitalizing on the true believers ever since. The problem is there's no more "West" left. In a global economy, "West" no longer exists. It's humbling when you go someplace and discover the USA isn't the only game in town for making a life and a living, but it's also incredibly liberating.
It's like a toxic relationship – the only thing that can fix Western co-dependency is to break the addiction. When enough people do, the fatcats will be forced to make concessions – perhaps even a pay cut – or face a brain drain similar to what Russia's going through. Sure, hiring untrained cogs for a fraction of skilled labor looks good short term, but you don't build your knowledge base that way. And demonstrating that you consider people and products expendable will justify going elsewhere. Duh!
All this may sound unpatriotic (if not blasphemous) to our delicate ears, and those who dare criticize the US are labeled "commies" without even understanding the term. But where's the real communism: looking for a better life abroad, or gradually turning the West into a plantation? Where's the real betrayal of country: enjoying the rights and lifestyle you demand in another part of the world, or accepting it when the powers that be whittle your freedoms with "heightened security" and "too big to fail"?
Sorry to rant, but Simon's doing the right thing. We need to see how other folks live, and stop tolerating a diminshed lifestyle because we insist "We're #1" without bothering to qualify it. We need to remind policymakers that the US was built on investing in quality, not reputation. And we need to stop being so goddamn arrogant that "it can't happen here," because it sure as hell IS.
]]>