How You Can Change the World

I am an American. And there is no doubt in my mind that I live in the greatest and most civilized internal nation in the world. My standard of living is beyond adequate, my potential within this country is unlimited, and my status is subject simply to my abilities and work ethic. I am also a member of this world. I reside in a world with war and famine and hunger and strife and death and destruction and violence and hatred and conflict and more conflict. It seems conflict and not cooperation, hatred and not love, selfishness and not self-sacrifice are all fast becoming the global norms. I am not a participant in these things on a macro level: I have not started a war; I have not exploded a car bomb; I have not killed a human; I have not paralyzed a human; I have not taken anyone hostage; I have not created a nuclear bomb; I have not threatened to use a weapon of mass destruction; I have not taken over a country nor a government by force. Nor am I prone to the forces which encompass these types of actions: I do not seek power or control over other individuals; I do not seek to convert people to my point of view; I am not interested in hating individuals based upon their race, religion, creed, color, economic status; I am not interested in accumulating wealth to the point of excess. But I have to wonder - as a member of this world am I somehow to blame for these events? And if not, is there something that I can do to change them?

I have on occasion felt anger or even violence toward another individual. I have on a very micro level wished ill upon someone who either threatened me or caused me pain. But for the most part the extent of my participation (even on a micro level) has been limited to verbal attacks. And even those it seems are rather isolated and limited. Yet my ability to participate in conflict on the micro level gives me some understanding of the forces at work in the global macro level - and they are from my experiences intense and difficult to shake. Nevertheless, even this insight does not lend itself to a solution regarding my potential (as an individual in a free nation) to diffuse global conflicts, create world peace, or change the prejudices and attitudes of the millions of people who have them. It seems insurmountable from an individual standpoint. Any attempt to try and stop the avalanche of despair with bare hands would seem at best futile, and at worst insane.

I watch and read and listen to anti-war protestors, and have images of them dating back to the Vietnam War. And I find these types of approaches to have a minimal impact on the actions of the people involved. Nor do any of these protests ultimately eliminate the sources of conflict on a global scale. As evidence by the fact that war protests have come and gone along side different wars between different parties and for different reasons.

I have seen the political packs form and the arguments rage and the debates continue about war and the like and from a historical stand-point these types of events have no lasting impact on the future of conflict. Wars have continued through the ages despite the formation of groups of opposition. None of these irritated intermittent blisters seem to offer any long-lasting dent in the propensity of humans to war.

The basic premise of any fight is for something. And the world is ripe with somethings that people value for various reasons which are directly opposed to those things which other people value for their own various reasons and these variables are an inevitable by-product of our existence. Scarcity in resources, a psychotic affiliation to some or any belief system, the differences in our genetic code, the differences in the way we look or behave, the predisposition of animals to often seek conflict, the inherent propensity in us to seek revenge and get even, the inherent propensity in the majority of humans to seek control and power of their environment and the people around them, the desire of people to strengthen their pack by either converting other individuals to their point of view or destroying them, and others, are all elements of this world which are here to stay. This is our stew, it’s cooked and we have no more ingredients to add.

When interpreted and applied properly, there are fundamental elements of Judo-Christian-Muslim-Buddhist (etc.) belief systems which offer a solution to these global problems. What can violence become in the face of compassion? What can hatred become in the face of love? What can scarcity become in the face of self-sacrifice and cooperation? What can hatred become in the face of understanding? What can self-control and submission become in the face of a threat? Yet even these solutions seem to offer no hope for an individual faced with global conflicts caused principally by an indifference to them. How can anyone profess the power of love to someone in another culture who rationalizes god as a basis for war and killing? Or self-sacrifice and corporation and sharing to a society that overwhelmingly values the perverse accumulation of material possessions? That worships the wealthy? That admires the powerful? How does one extrapolate compassion for the plight of the hungry to an individual who would pay millions of dollars for a single baseball?

So then the question remains, what can an individual do to change global events beyond their immediate realm of influence? No one at the bottom can start the climb at the top of the mountain. What’s required is a continuation of things like truth, love, self-sacrifice, compassion, caring, self-control on the micro level in the hopes that a chain reaction can be created toward (or to) the top. When you are kind to someone they recognize that and they remember that and they may be led by example. When you diffuse a conflict with rational behavior it’s possible (although not probable) that someone who is prone to violence may remember your actions in his next potential conflict and act accordingly. What is required is your individual behavior in situations of despair to be exemplary. The next time someone asks you for a dollar, do not judge them, give them the dollar. The next time someone threatens you, do not fight them, diffuse the situation. Then next time someone needs help, help them. For leading by example at the micro level is the best way for anyone to make a difference in our world.