Life is an Opportunity

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

I want to look back on my life and be proud of myself and those who I shared this time on earth with because we did something to make the world a better place for those who will live on after us.

As a society we are on the cusp of the potential for great change, because the way that things have been going are causing strife and chaos in the world.  War and violence and oppression have become themes so common, so ingrained in the dialogue and psyches of humanity that by and large, the majority of us have given up on the belief that there can be a better way to live. Yet there is a better way a live, but to get there will require a significant amount of effort and the ability to believe that our neighbors and complete strangers are willing to do good for themselves and for all of us.

I still believe that the American system of government as laid out by the Founding Fathers and taught to us in the school systems is the best form of government that has ever been provided to a people.  I believe it is the best form of government for individuals and groups to use to represent themselves and collectively guide the entirety of society for its own greatest benefit.  I also believe that this system has been hijacked by a self appointed, elite minority that is hell bent on preserving their power and control to the detriment of 99% of us.  This minority is not just a group of Americans, but who are a group of people spread around the globe who are through industry, media and government are tirelessly working, directing, organizing and perpetuating destructive policies and strategies for their own enrichment.

I do not blame these people for doing what they are genetically pre-disposed to do.  We are all blessed with one life on this planet, and it is natural for us to make the most of it for ourselves, and for our children.  It is natural for us to show our children how to preserve what we have worked to provide them with, so that they can make the most of their own opportunities and to continue the cycle for their own loved ones.

I do blame them for being selfish, short sighted and for lacking a sense of the collective conscious and the need to partner with all of us, for the betterment of all of us.  Not just the betterment of Americans, but the betterment of humanity. 

The good news is that we live in America, a place where an immigrant can work hard and make a better life for themselves, a place where a child can decide to go the moon, or a person can decide to become President.  We live in the land of opportunity, and no opportunity is greater than the opportunity to contribute to our community and to strive to create the kind of economic and political system that provides the greatest benefit to the largest number of people.

The thing is that opportunity is just that, opportunity.  It is the potential to do something, not a guarantee that it will be done.  It takes a life time of dedication, a good heart, a wise mind and an enlightened spirit to bring about positive, lasting change that will persist for generations to come.  Like a window, opportunity does not stay open forever.  A wise person once said, “What some people call luck, I call being well prepared when opportunity arises.”

I look at the Internet and I see the opportunity to enact change in the way that America is governed.  I see the opportunity to create a better economy and to bring transparency and accountability to the functions of military and government that since the end of World War 2, have been turned upon the people not to support them, but to keep them in line.  The Internet is a place where a person can make a silly video with Legos about a preview for a science fiction movie and within a week, have that idea viewed by over 40 million people and mentioned on broadcast television.

Think about that for a second.  Someone can have an idea, have a vision that they put some effort into sharing with their friends and complete strangers.  Those friends and strangers can enjoy what they see and on some level, agree that it is worth sharing.  They can leverage computers and smart phones to spread the idea through a computer network, and that idea can eventually reach millions of people.

If that can be done with a movie trailer or some humorous content, why not with the idea that we have the ability to create a world where war and violence are the exception to the rule because people have food, and shelter and the opportunity to better themselves? 

How about these ideas? (There are plenty more where these came from)

·         A President who dedicates four years to bringing transparency and accountability on the workings of government to the American people, in order to educate the people on how heavily corporations and special interests exert control over their lives?

o   A President who is open with their itinerary

§  Who comes to talk to them?

§  What do they talk about?

§  What does that person / the people that person represent, want?

·         A President who dedicates four years to removing the obstacles Americans face to making healthcare decisions for themselves.

o   Intelligent marijuana policy that recognizes its health benefits.

o   Intelligent food and drug policy that exposes the dysfunction at the FDA and sets the organization on the path towards enabling Americans to be healthy through nutrition and preventative care.

·         A President who dismantles the Drug War and speaks truth to power about the schizophrenia between pharmaceutical  drugs which are ‘good’ and street drugs which are ‘bad’

o   Finding a better use for the ~$40 BILLION spent every year on the drug war.

·         A President who embraces realistic energy policies that strike the balance between renewable energy technologies like solar, wind and hydro-electric combined with baseline nuclear generation to replace American dependence on fossil fuels.

·         A President who champions a foreign policy that seeks to export opportunity, not weapons and death.  

    All human beings essentially want food, shelter, safety and opportunity.  Let’s focus America on delivering those things to our fellow citizens and those citizens in other countries who want the same things.  Let's give peace a chance.