It is said that in order to accomplish your dearest dreams, you need to have a fire in your heart. Your desire to see your hopes, ideals, and fondest wishes become real must drive your every action one step closer to fulfillment. Those who possess this fire occupy the highest levels of industry, government, and science. They also work in charities, as emergency personnel, and educators. These are the ones who shape our communities, our laws, and our lives.
It would be nice to think that many of these people who live with the fire had only the best intentions as their fondest dreams. And in fairness, many of them do, if only secondarily. But for all the driven people who strive to do deeds that benefit humanity, there are just as many driven people who have motives in direct opposition to the common good. Due to the very nature of these people, they almost all rise to the top in one way or another. They become our political leaders, our religious teachers, our military commanders, our professors, our inventors. Some of them are purely idealists, and of those, you have as many motivated by personal reward as by philanthropy. Others are activist in nature and become the public face of the idealist’s designs. In all cases, you will find these groups sort themselves into two types of driven people. One group wants to help people. The other wants to help themselves. Regardless of the challenge, one group will find a solution that works best for all; the other group will find a solution that works best for them.
So the question then becomes, which side do you fit in to? I know that most people don’t have the fire. At best, most of us are lucky to have a bright spark flare up from time to time. In our newer, better, faster world, who has time to get fired up? And who has time to pay attention to everything that happens anyhow? But regardless of where you stand on an issue, at the core you either care about people in general, or you care about you and yours and not much else. Now, I’m not trying to take issue with people who are just out for number one. At times, we all need to take that attitude. But when it comes to public life, to politics and finances and public safety, there can be no place for the selfish.
In our society, we began an experiment not before undertaken on such a scale in human history. Our forefathers endeavored to create a society for the benefit of all, with those at its helm acting for the public good. (Lofty ideals for sure, and history is full of inconsistencies, irregularities, and flat out flagrance in the application of these ideals.) The concept was pure, and it remains pure today. But just as in the prominent religions of the day, while the base tenets are sound and mutually agreeable, the application of ideals upon the human creature is flawed by the human itself. Blame it on biology or chemistry or plain old evil, but the transition of creed to practice rarely works in real life like it does on paper. The human element interferes with the soundness of the plan. The selfish spoil the soup. And we all go hungry tonight.
The state of our current social-political fabric could best be described as thinning. It has become like an old t-shirt, worn too long, washed too little. Stained from abuse and apathy. Ready to come apart at the seams. We can still wear it around the house, but we’re uncomfortable being caught with it out in public and when we are, we pretend that it’s the best shirt in the drawer. Our leadership is selling our children’s future for their own limited reward. They are doing this because we’ve let them. Slowly, we have stopped paying attention. We learn through 10-second sound bites, we form opinions by co-opting them. We have stopped teaching our children that society is a group effort, where the gains benefit many and the failures touch us all. We have traded our common sense for cheap entertainment, corporate profits, bigger cars, and Big Macs. If our society is heading down the wrong path, we have ourselves to blame. And it will be to our shame if we continue to let it go.
There is another group of people I haven’t mentioned yet. This may be the largest block of people of all. These are the people who haven’t yet gotten the fire, but have had a long simmering spark, a spark that has been stoked gently over the years until it becomes the flicker of a flame. These are the people who work hard every day and try to do the right thing. These are the people who want their children to have a happy life, full of rewards yet filled with challenges and empathy. These are the people who are becoming increasingly frustrated with the way we have let our society go. They are like the slow burning fuse on a stick of dynamite. Once the fuse gets going, it picks up speed until it explodes, changing the face of everything in its path. This is the group who really cause societal shifts. And when they decide to act, no one, not even the driven few, can stem their rise.
This last group of people is again starting to stir. Many of them are just starting to recognize the signs. The growing discomfort when they hear the news. The high speed pace of daily life. The lack of time to enjoy each other’s company. The disgust with public policy. The lack of common sense in everyday life.
I fall into this last group. For many years, I have danced an internal dance with socio-political concepts and their applications. I have felt the spark flare up from time to time and I have become involved when the spark was stoked. But for several years now, the spark has become more of an eternal spark. It is growing into a flame that hints at consumption if it is not sated. It is the flame of common sense.
If I can tame this flame and nurture its growth, I plan to expose the lack of Common Sense in our world today. I will also share possible solutions to our maladies. I will offer a plan of action for the benevolent spirit, the servant of the public, the helper of humanity to follow. This effort will garner many foes, to be sure. And there will need to be areas of compromise. But you can be equally sure that those who will most oppose these designs are the ones who stand to lose personal power or fortunes. Those who will denounce them loudest do not have your interests at heart. Those who will belittle them at every point will be the ones who want to hold you down or destroy what you deserve. You deserve…we all deserve…peace and a chance at prosperity.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 5th, 2005 at 5:21 am and is filed under Common Sense, General, Politics.
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January 14th, 2005 at 6:21 pm
Well said. I fall into the last group also. Although I have been involved with politics since 1984 when Mondale ran, I didn’t really get fired up until my time in the Army and the 2000 elections.
In the past year, I have spread my ideas and thoughts to a realm(although not a big one yet, but hopefully growing) beyond my friends and family. I will read more of yours and hope they are all this interesting.
January 14th, 2005 at 6:45 pm
(reply to scott)
Thanks for dropping by. I obviously am trying to reach out to others and share what I see as an endemic lack of foresight among our culture. Continue to read on as you will.
kg
February 3rd, 2005 at 6:13 am
I am coming here late, at the recommendation of your sidebar
My sociopolitical passions were lit to the boiling point by the policies of the Bush administration. I was never deluded about the imperfections of the system, but in hindsight it appears I grew complacent. No more. The spark is indeed lit, and here’s hoping that a better future is within our grasp.
February 3rd, 2005 at 6:28 am
(To SheaNC)
Welcome Aboard! I hope that you can find some useful items in here to help!
February 22nd, 2005 at 11:16 pm
Ken,
I wandered in here from Ran’s blog. You write very well and I think that I understand where you are coming from. One thing that I am starting to realize is that people in all groups are pretty much the same. Ultimately, they all want peace and prosperity for themselves and for their children. Where we disagree is on how to get there. Some people do not understand that peace and prosperity for themselves cannot be achieved without peace and prosperity for those around them. Lack of common sense, lack of critical thinking, lack of education, lack of understanding of complexities of the world are the greatest problems we face.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you.
February 23rd, 2005 at 7:05 am
Second Hand- Nice to have you along.