Forum Post: Choosing Democracy Part 4

For many issues, "Not In My Backyard!" is irrelevant. We live in a global environment with a single backyard, front yard and house in between. We need to figure out how best to share this planet. Our rulers have often used the strategy of divide and conquer. We have been told to hate and fear other people because they come from a different clan, tribe, nation, religion, race, gender, age, class, or for any other reason which serves to turn attention away from our rulers' abuses and their ill-acquired wealth. Hatred and fear have become bad habits, even though today they might lead to destruction on a global scale. We have also maintained the bad habit of allowing riches to a few and crumbs to the rest. Yet, all the wealth in the world saves no one from illness, loneliness and death. Sharing equals healing, and we could use a hundred years of healing just to get our feet on the ground and our heads turned in the right direction. Grief, Purpose and Joy describe the process of arriving at a better world. We will not be the first to make that journey. If others had not gone before us, if the world had never known peace and justice, we would have fallen completely into death and chaos centuries ago. History has been a wrestling match between the best and worst of our humanity. It is time for the best to settle this and for the worst to be transformed into what we need for survival, for art, for understanding. Each of us can heal ourselves as part of a loving community so the weight we carry will be shared by others. When new wounds are inflicted, and they will be because suffering will remain part of the human condition, we will not be so alone in finding ways to heal. We choose life because the alternative is not a choice. Death has never needed our help. We will mourn the dead, and we may fear our own demise, but before these bodies disappear we will have done everything possible to live to the fullest, making this the world we want to live in instead of the one we want to escape from. When will we--those among the 999 out of 1,000 who are not already in the street, who are not yet organized--understand that to change the world we have to show up? By showing up and being counted, we will be part of a turning point in history. And once that corner has been turned, we can create a new national and international order founded on the most basic principles of human decency. Every human being will have food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care, all of the highest possible quality. We must stop selling our birthrights for a fraction of their value. We know important things are missing from our lives, and no accumulation of goods or access to services can change that. Brand new shiny things pile up, but danger and destruction intrude. The world is going to hell in the same hand basket we use to bring home some of the shopping. What does it mean to choose democracy? It means choosing good citizenship over being a cog in the consumerist machine. A citizen participates in a government which represents the needs and hopes of its people. A consumer is nothing more than a mouth devouring whatever it is told to devour, unsatisfied unto death because there will always be something else the consumer must have to be happy. Whatever version of the spirit each of us may believe in, humanity must be united in loving and worshipping the earth, what is known and unknown in it, what is alive because the earth is alive. How precious is this place perched on the edge of endless space. By acting together in our millions and billions, our courage and our determination to love and protect each other will build a new foundation for those living and those to come. With the involvement of every person, every home, every village, every town, every city, every nation, then with all the world, let us now fulfill our ancient dreams of peace and justice.