I would like, in the end, to be more than a critic, and more than a mere observer of what "is." In other words, I would like to be someone who does something more than simply describe the nature of the reality in which I find myself. That reality, of course, is the reality we all inhabit.
Good observation and description is powerful (see those "Sunbeams," below). There is no doubt about that, and being able to describe and delimit the realities we confront is of critical importance. Changing the world, though, is what I would really like to help accomplish.
Because I believe that the world we most immediately inhabit is, in fact, infinitely malleable, I would like to help create a new version that better reflects our hopes and dreams - and I mean the hopes and dreams of all of us, the ones we share, in our deepest selves. I believe that any analysis that ends with the contemplation of the purely individual misses the most important thing: we are all in this together.
One of my favorite Bob Dylan songs is from this album, Together Through Life. Click to listen!
One of my favorite magazines, The Sun, provides its readers, each month, with the kind observations of our human condition that can inspire us to the kind of actions we need to take. The magazine calls these observations "Sunbeams." Click the link for the full menu from the January 2019 issue. I have provided a sample below:
Incontestably, alas, most people are not, in action, worth very much; and yet, every human being is an unprecedented miracle. One tries to treat them as the miracles they are, while trying to protect oneself against the disasters they’ve become.
- James BaldwinHeaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before — more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
- Charles Dickens, Great ExpectationsEmpathy is the antidote to shame. . . . The two most powerful words when we’re in struggle: me too.
- Brené Brown
In the end, I would like to help change the world. I think we need to do it, and now is the time, and I think there may be a lot of us who feel that way.
I feel a change coming on!
Image Credits:
(1) - https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/517
(2) - https://bobdylan.shop.musictoday.com/product/Y4BD06COMBO/together-through-life-cd
Yes, we do!
ReplyDeleteIt's a hard lonely road, working for change, struggling upstream against the steady flow toward oblivion.
But, the hopes and dreams "we share, in our deepest selves" are not "the hopes and dreams of all of us". There are those whose hopes and dreams are antithetical to ours. And in my case, those hopers and dreamers far outnumber me and mine.
Fortunately, democracy is run by those who show up, and in these days of electronic distraction and newsertainment, the truly dedicated and idealistic often hold the floor at local government meetings. The once majority finds itself back peddling to attempt to justify itself in the face of vocal opposition.
Keep the faith, be the change.