by Peter Perkins
The first part of the article I spoke of the world at large and how the massive changes both in the planet and society are taking place. This part I am going to focus on America.
We have not been spared here in America the same changes that are sweeping our world. I would say that it is more subtle but Katrina, the BP Oil Rig disaster were not very subtle at all nor was the horror of the attacks suffered on 9/11.
These got our attention but sadly didn’t hold it for long. They were wake up calls to change the way we live. Were we listening though?
It would seem only the attacks on 9/11 really changed things and only because our government kept the fear alive for so long. Though the methods chosen to deal with this are far more invasive then necessary and actually effect many more citizens then terrorists. What we learned of 9/11 is that the men who crashed these planes learned how to fly in our own country and then used those skills to commit that atrocity.
Would it not make more sense to delve deeply into the schools that teach flight, especially flight of large commercial airplanes then to introduce technology that irradiates and violates the privacy of America’s citizens in such an invasive way? I think the only way that such methods were able to pass were fear being hammered into people to the point where they thought this was the only way to remain safe.
Why do we have such strict measures? Is it really to prevent a terrorist attack on the airplanes or is it the government’s fear of an uprising occurring here in America like we are seeing in the Middle East. The fear of the government of its citizens was highlighted in the horrible attack on Senator Giffords.
We all know this attack was the result of a man with severe psychological disorders. It was not the average American upset with government nor, as some people like to promote, a republican or tea bag party conspiracy. What happened though? We heard from the President in a big speech that we need to be more civil with each other. It didn’t last very long on the part of either party – not even our president stayed true to his own speech.
Still what came of it was a separation of the government from its citizens. As slow as government is to act we saw almost immediate action when one of their own was shot.
New ways of interacting with the public, more protection for politicians and a sudden stop to all the town hall meetings that seemed to be the rage for a while.
We can’t let fear rule us, let it be an alert that something needs to be looked at but don’t get lost in it. Fear should never rule because it simply feeds on that and we get distanced from what it alerted us to in the first place.
Yes the shooting of Senator Giffords was indeed a tragedy – not only her shooting, but the death of many people including a young girl. It was done by a man with mental problems and yet the result was an overall wave of terror among politicians that this would happen to them.
When something is presented to us it is to draw our attention to make us think and if we take the cue, to make changes.
More recently we have seen the unrest in Wisconsin about the unions. What was the message here? If we look below the layers we saw politicians run away from their duties. Would this ever be accepted by any of us? If we all left our jobs and fled the state because we wanted to avoid some tough decision at work for a few weeks we would be fired. We should not accept this behavior from our politicians, it is unacceptable. I know everyone might see this as taking a political side but I am also going to get into how the law was passed. That was equally unacceptable.
While they may have been given no choice since the democrat senators refused to return to the state. It was still wrong to slip this law through in the manner in which it was. It was pushed through like the health care law due to a majority having power and using it with no regard simply because they had the majority and power to do so.
What do these things tell us? First how many people read the law? How many people in fact read the health care law?
The point is we need to be more aware and actually educate ourselves about what our government is doing. We could simply cling to what the media tells us but they don’t get it right all the time and if you cant see the political slant of media sources then take a moment to try and see it. We the people have the power, it’s not just a line in the Constitution, and it is not just for America.
We have forgotten that we have the power. We can give that power away and let someone else handle our responsibilities; we have already seen the result of this.
It’s how our world has ended up as it is now. We have the power but we also have the responsibility. We need to educate ourselves, take interest in how we are governed and make changes that make sense not simply changes based on fear.
What else do we see happening in America? Our Priorities are being presented to us like a cold slap in the face. How do we place our priorities and values?
The NFL going through the problems it is highlights the fact not that there are problems leading to no games being played. We are being given a moment to step back and ask, what could be so wrong that people playing a game, a game! With some being paid millions of dollars could be so wrong that they might not play this coming season.
What are our priorities as a society when we pay people playing a game millions?
I don’t need to mention the many legal problems many players get into. A simple look at the news for the past few years would highlight that. Many times they are treated not like any of us would be if we broke the law.
Why do we accept this? Why do we place these people on pedestals and treat them as if they are separate from the rest of us?
Time for us to take an introspective look at ourselves as a society.
Our sport stars are not alone in drawing our attention in a big way lately. The best paid TV star in America played his part in letting us know how differently we treat our actors and actresses. Charlie Sheen is highlighting for us just the kind of things we accept from actors and actresses we would never accept from one another. Yes he was fired – an amazing thing considering quite often such excesses would be excused and laughed over as eccentricity. It is only because he went as far as he did that we didn’t see him just taken back into the fold because he made so much money for the network he worked for.
This is another example of highlighting our priorities as a society in such a in your face way that we can’t ignore it any longer.
Now unto disasters – what did Katrina show us; what did it highlight in an “in your face” way?
We were unprepared for such a disaster is what we learned from that. The levies were unable to deal with it and even now the area hasn’t changed to prevent such a tragedy from happening again if the same thing happened. So we didn’t learn obviously so we get reminded over and over wake up it’s time to change and adapt.
The BP disaster was nice to talk about from politicians for a while. They could rail against oil companies and sound as if they are concerned. Did it change anything though? Other than a brief slow down, did we learn from this disaster and make changes?
Simply do some research into this and you will know the answer.
In fact, not only do I invite you to research what changes were made in the wake of any disaster or other major events, but I strongly support your self education on these matters.
Only if people are aware, truly aware beyond what I or the media or some political group tells them, can we move ahead as a society.
In ending I simply say the time to hit the snooze button is over. It is time to wake up, to take responsibility for the world around us. We need to see disasters as a sign of what we need to change, to not suffer the same things over and over. We can make changes and it requires that we change. Relying on the government to make the changes for us, is giving away our power.
Love and Light Everyone
Peter
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