Sunday June 24, 2007

I was going through my past entries and wow….I was really quite insightful then. About my life, about what’s happening around the world, about everything in general. Looking at my entries nowadays, I have to agree with a certain anonymous who commented a while ago on how my blog has become an ‘advertising’ platform for all the work that I’m doing now. Sometimes, I just don’t want to dwell on thoughts that I have in fear of offending people, and also sometimes I just don’t have time to write down what I have in mind and when I have time to write, I forget. So today, while it’s still fresh in my mind, I’d like to share a thought with all of you.

I was very recently a ‘victim’ of a phone survey. They were asking for my opinion on our country’s political and economical state. And as I was answering the survey questions, (which included – if I thought our Prime Minister was doing his job well, to what was the most interesting piece of news I’ve read in the local papers so far…..) I realised, it’s only human nature to be selfish, and most of what we do in life is, in one way or another, for our own benefit. And as our leaders are all human, it’s just nature that they look out for their own good! Add to that mix, power and authority, well…. it’s easy to get carried away sometimes. Maybe they first got into the job thinking yes, they want to do good for the nation, for the people, they want to create change. But as time goes by, maybe they hit a dead end road on their course to goodness, and temptation comes into play and then things just goes down hill from there. One little ripple can cause a tidal wave.

I found this little quote so true! It was from the website of the documentary hosted by Al Gore, “An Inconvenient Truth” ,

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair-

I mean, would you adhere to changes if your livelihood depends on the status quo? Would you vote for an opposition party if the current ruling party is meeting your every need? Would you give away your last dollar to someone else if your life depends on it? I don’t think so.

I was watching the Oprah Winfrey show recently, (yes, my favourite show of all time,) and she had the Mayor of Newark on the show, Cory Booker, who received death threats and everything because he’s trying to make big changes in Newark, one of the ‘ghettho’ towns in New Jersey. Despite that, he threw himself into the thick of things, he started living in the poorest part of town and experience life everyday like how his citizens would and he even took in two teenagers, who were caught spraying “KILL CORY BOOKER” on the walls, under his wing to try and help them get out of their rut. You can read all about it here. I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if we had more leaders who are like that not only in our country, but in all other countries, philanthropist politicians, who are able to put their self-interest aside for the betterment of the nation and the people.

I guess I just get a bit frustrated at the system at times and I feel helpless because I can’t do anything to change it ……. not overnight at least. Just like John Mayer puts it in his song, we’re all just “waiting on the world to change”. But will it ever?

Me and all my friends
We’re all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There’s no way we ever could
Now we see everything is going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
It’s hard to beat the system
When we’re standing at a distance
So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
– John Mayer –

Bel

0 comments on “Sunday June 24, 2007

  1. luxeandco

    i completely agree – i think what we need is more of a consciousness because there’s an assumption that someone else will look after it, or the problems of our world, as big as they are, will be fixed by a greater power. while the extent of everyone’s influence varies, educating people – and getting a sense of urgency that it’s everyone’s immediate problem to do their part – is really important.

    Reply
  2. kimmik82

    yeah, that and how we’re always thinking we’re too small to make a difference, therefore we don’t.

    but if every little person did a little something, like, seperate products into bags to be recycled or not using the aircond unless you can help it, or only wash clothes in big piles and not use the dryer but hang your clothes out to dry, or put a brick in your toilet water tank so not as much water is required, there’d be a collective effect which would compensate for say, petrol burnt driving round and round the carpark looking for a spot.

    it’s definitely not easy, having to consciously schedule these things in but it’s exactly because it’s not easy that it’s worth doing. which is why all those ppl who work for ngos are so admirable. they turned what we thought was difficult to do into an easy and obvious decision.

    Reply

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