Oh Yikes! The snow had just melted away and now we have a new layer of whiteness. They say we need more moisture but isn't that what winter is for? Yesterday in my blog I may have given you the impression that I am a thoughtful peaceful person inviting my readers to expand their awareness. That would be partly true.
The other part of me however is more of a provocative social activist bent on stirring people up so they get off their butts and do something to shake up the status quo. My blog is also a venue for pointed questions about what we put up with, about rearranging the power structure of this nation so that is again in the hands of the people not corporations, religions and money influenced government.
Today I want to ask you some questions about your values, your actions, and how come you choose to live so many compromises? Do you ignore your values to make a living? When your place of work is damaging your community or the planet by what they are doing, do you say something? If you lose benefits, retirement plans or are expected to work more hours for less pay because of a company's bottom line, do you speak up or just get resentful? If your co-workers are mistreated do you speak up? If someone at your church acts pious on Sunday and them cheats and steals from others during the week, do you say something? If you claim to live by higher values and then in daily life act like a scoundrel (I doubt many scoundrels read my blog), do you question yourself and your actions? Do you rationalize your actions and behaviors, which you know are not ok? Is it ok to you that most of Congress are heavily under the influence of those that help pay to get them elected?
These questions are asked because I suspect that many of us are not living up to our higher values and have figured out how to rationalize our behaviors. We may at times fall short of our own expectations. That is human nature but have we gone too much away from what we say matters most, from the values we claim to live by. Don’t get me wrong, compromise has its place but too much means we are most likely uncomfortable with ourselves. Have we done so because we are afraid to stand up for what we believe in? In these financial times of unrest do we more easily compromise our values because we are fearful? Is it ok that we are spending billions on weapons and war while so many are in dire straights, in need of help, going hungry, loosing their homes, can’t afford health care, are being poorly educated, loosing their jobs, are dealing with mentally illness and can’t find assistance?
As I write the questions keep popping up. It seems to me that we live in a very compromised world dominated by corporations and profiteering. Few in leadership are run by higher values and instead worship at the altar of the almighty duo of profit and power. Yet we passively and probably fearfully allow those who want power to take it from us. We have become a nation of blamers instead. There are conservative blamers, religious blamers, liberal blamers, environmental blamers, anti-establishment blamers, establishment blamers, self-righteous blamers, poor me blamers, unknowing blamers.
Just the other day I had a thought about something someone else said or did and for a moment I got a little rush out of a blaming thought I had about them. We all do blame whether we are conscious of it or not. The trouble with blaming it is that it regenerates itself. The more we blame the more crap there is to complain about in life.
Yes I am rambling a bit here in a number of directions. Let’s see if I can bring this together into something you can make sense of or at least get some benefit from reading to this point of the post. Yes questions are very important and questioning how we are doing with living our higher values helps to clarify what adjustments we need to make to feel good about our lives. And higher values are also key to the health of our society and our nation. If we ignore what we know is right both for us and for the greater good then our nation will be in trouble.
Let’s end the adolescent like/ego tainted urges to argue and blame and instead start to take responsibility for the problems our nation faces today. It is time to end the pointing of fingers and instead put our energy into finding solutions that are for the good of everyone. If we stand up for what is right, compassionate, and fair there will no longer be power in just the hands of a few.
Did I do ok at tying this together in some kind of sensible way? Have a good day.