Life is not simple. Nor is it meant to be. Nor can it ever be, certainly not for a full lifetime and not in a life which offers choices. For sure, life goes on even when there are no choices, but is that what we really aspire to? A life where all choices are made for us, not necessarily for us in any kind of 'good for us' manner or intent, in content and outcome.
That life is called slavery. That life is called dictatorship, not benevolent either! That life is mostly a life of drab existence, where there are no choices to be made, all being scarce, denied to the little people, with access to resources strictly limited. Hence - go to work, slave away, earn a pittance, and struggle to find and be able to afford food and other necessities of life. For more than a very basic level, a life must be able to have choices. No choice life is not a good one. At all.
So now explain to me why so many among us in a country where there is so much choice available, even if some might have more choice than others, why, are so many of us choosing the route of growing limitation of free right of choices. No, not only for the right to choose, though that is obviously a major ticket item. Rather it is the ability to choose a career, a level of living, what is needed to achieve it. Where to live. To be able to find shelter, not merely 'adequate' but more than that. A life where our children will have choices. A life with a good future possible - for all.
A life with positive choices and potential, demands initial positive traits. It requires education so that one might make informed choices. It requires that the education be sound, open for discussion, honest in presentation. It requires access to that level of education for all, be it blue collar, white collar or any other color collar we can think of.
It demands respect for all humanity. That respect and value of all is not a limited 'all'. Religion, race, ethnicity, economic level, skin color, whatever appears to separate us must be shown to be of negligible importance if one is to be honest, if society is to advance. Ability to be who one is, is of utmost importance, perhaps the deciding factor in a society with choices.
Again, what difference does it make what name one calls a deity or not at all. What does it matter whether I worship on a Saturday or Sunday or Friday or not at all. What difference does it make if my family originated in one country or another. What should matter is one's value as a human, eager, able to join in a perennial uphill battle to keep earth's population in a good way, along with a viable hopefully long-lived planet. We are failing at that task. In both tasks. We have crossed the line too many times, limiting choices, making the wrong choices, and "OVERDUE" has come in the mail, or email or by Pony Express. Again, mode of delivery matters not; what does matter is what we have done, and how we are going to fix the mess we have so ably, yet ineptly at the same time, created. Choices have led us here. Simple as all that.
Why we have made those choices is a mystery, yet all too clear as well. People are inherently selfish, looking after Number 1 first, last and always. Hopefully, more have evolved from that basic level of life and moved on to include others within our shall we say, 'sacred' circle. Too many have not, or stopped growth at a low level, seeing those outside the circle as unimportant, as of little to no value other than how they provide for a good life for that limited circle. Too many of us have not yet absorbed the truth that we are all one, all condemned or blessed by life on this planet. It all depends on our choices. OUR choices. The choices others make for us, choices that we might have ceded to others. Bad juju there.
Good choices, meant to advance humanity, of necessity, must eliminate selfishness, a deeply ingrained trait within humans. Sometimes I wonder if somewhere along the line we threw that goal of goodness for all, for equity for all, jettisoned it, threw it into the wind, like chaff in a wheat field. Now we are reaping the terrible consequences, even as we follow that same life limiting path.
Will we ever learn? Will we never learn? Do we actually wish to learn? Are we capable of learning? My choice, or rather, truthfully, my hope, is growing weaker over time, is that while not hopeless, we are on that road. In the meantime, we must all take account, a deep dive not into our finances, but into our moral bank, our futures bank, the future for sale not in NYSE or NASDAQ, but in our lives, or homes, our hearts.
Yes, take joy in your life, in the lives of those within your circle. However, we must not forget the circles of others and the most important fact that we are actually one circle within many, all re-formed to be one huge circle. Disney's lessons might be simplified, but true they are. If only our oh so sophisticated, jaded minds would recognize that.
There is a mantra that goes something like this:
Me against my brother.
My brother and I against the family.
My family and I against the clan.
My clan and I against other clans.
My clans and I against the tribes.
My tribes and I against the nation.
My nation and I against the world.
- and where does this end? ET around? Little green men? Are we meant to be at war with ourselves, with others? Is that what we choose?
Think about it. Might change your mind in surprising ways. Simple as all that, yet not so simple at all.
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