No, Not Apathy

I realize that many people might look at my last post, "Another Reason NOT To Vote" and think that I'm expressing a strong level of apathy, that I'm suggesting we're each powerless and, thus, should simply throw up our hands in resignation. That's not my point at all. I think a potential solution exists, but it's not a quick fix and it looks in an entirely different direction than most would think.

I hearken back to the Tao Te Ching as a very loose model for a direction we can head. While there's no question that the mythic Lao Tzu aimed many of his comments at leaders or sages, I believe the message he was trying to impart was aimed at everybody in equal measure.

The problem that we face in this nation -- and it's true in most other nations as well -- is that our political system is the product of each of us as individuals. While we are held captive in an us vs. them struggle, the us was created by we! We have unwittingly created our own Frankenstein that, once unleashed, we have no control over.

What we see playing out in the halls of government is no different than what regularly plays out in our ordinary lives. We try to get others to do what we want without them realizing it. We manipulate information, facts, other people, circumstances and situations in an attempt to satisfy our craven desires. When life doesn't go the way we want, it's not uncommon for any of us to try to strong arm the situation to bring about the desired result. And, when we act from a position of power in relationships, we too often dispense with the very principles that we say we hold near and dear.

Do these traits look familiar? They are the same ones that undermine our vaunted democratic system.

Consequently, if we genuinely want to change the system for the better, we need to begin that process by changing ourselves first. It is when people change that government will begin to change, not the other way around!

Of course, the problem many people will see with this direction is that it won't affect change quickly enough. There is no question that it will take generations for it to take hold. But the problem itself took generations to create and so it can't be reversed overnight. Evolution doesn't work that way.

While voting, political activism, writing letters to the editor and screaming our point of view on Talk radio may make a person FEEL like he or she is making a difference, it's all a facade. It's far easier and less painful to focus our attention outward than to look inward.

For me, it all comes down to what a person genuinely hopes to accomplish. If the chief plan merely is to rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic, then, by all means, vote, bitch, moan and complain. Yes, you might help elect some different people to office, but the systemic dysfunction will continue unabated.

If, on the other hand, you genuinely want a new dynamic to take hold in human society, then we must each concentrate on ourselves. Until we cast off our destructive thoughts and behaviors, society will not move forward. It will simply entrench upon itself.

I realize some of you might suggest we do both simultaneously. Personally, I don't think that will work at all. A house divided will not stand. It will take all of our determination and abilities to change ourselves. If we divide the effort between the internal and the external, the internal always gets the short shrift because an external focus is the easier route.

If you or I want change we can believe in, then we must first change the person we look at in the mirror each day.