Y’know, as much as I start out nitpicking ARA’s comment, if I’m understanding correctly, I don’t really disagree all that much. I certainly agree with the stance of personal responsibility and accountability, and a fundamental need to fight the good fight, actually give a hoot, and hold on to optimism. So ARA, no offense intended.

My “look for the mote before the beam” and overall wordiness probably stem from the many words I wish I could use to get some sense in my sister’s head… and the realization that she has to make her own choices. I had a huge email written up for her, a literary boot to the head, as it were… and then I didn’t send it to her. It wouldn’t have helped.

If I could just make everyone actually THINK for a change, and do the right thing… well… I’d be tempted to do it. But ultimately, I’ve decided that I respect the right to agency and self-determination, no matter how frustrating it can be. A lot of the time, I just want to be left alone to do what I feel to be right, and who am I to take that right from someone else? I’m still deeply frustrated with the amazing stupidity I see in the world, but it’s just not my job to right every wrong… no matter how much I wish I could. All I can do is make sure my own house is in order, and try to be that proverbial “candle on the hill”. Those are the lines of propriety, and ultimately, the only place that I really can make a difference.

(And I’m ready to tank with my face and claws if someone threatens my family…)

Ironically, when we look closely at the very same “Serenity Prayer” that BBB cited above – specifically, the passage asking for “the courage to change the things I can” – we see one of the foremost principles of Democracy, laid out at the foundation of our great nation. Doubly ironic: THE UNITED STATES HAS DONE EVERYTHING IT CAN OVER THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES TO *HIDE* THE ABILITY OF THE “COMMON MAN” TO AFFECT SUCH CHANGE. Pardon the CAPS LOCK. Hee hee.

Somebody please also post the old Latin phrasing for “Don’t let the bastards grind you down,” plzkthxbai. ^^

Tesh, you are right on target. And you managed to emulate BBB’s wordiness too! (A good thing, for me. :) ) Thank you for being the “guest blogger” for today. :P

What is needed? – A vacation at some remote location where the world is but a blur.

Keep on truckin.

I figure the ‘stick my head in the sand again’ comment is probably the sticking point, and I said it because I really do feel that right now the best I can do is to see to me and the ones I love, and hope for the best while these massive events continue to unfold around us. And yes, it frustrates me that I can’t do more.

But my core problem right now is that I feel spiritually off-center, unbalanced. Normally I feel strongly centered, and I roll off that strength. Instead, all weekend I’ve been feeling like I’m tap dancing during an earthquake, and I can’t find solid ground.

I think I need to go to the gym. There’s nothing quite like pushing your body to exhaustion while listening to eardrum-destroying goth metal, to make me feel better.

Well… except maybe skydiving, or surfing, or driving very, very, very fast while listening to goth metal. Hmmm, I do have to drive home now. Hmmmm.

Can one person be a leader? Sure, but only if others choose to follow them. Force of arms can “make” people choose things, but only when everyone actually decides on their own to do the right thing will a cultural change be pervasive and persistent. The sort of change that adds up and makes the world a better place has to come from individuals. It also has to be based in respect for choice. People have to choose the right thing, and not be forced into doing the right thing.

It’s like education; you can’t force someone to learn something. They have to choose to learn it, to internalize it, to understand it. You can force feed someone data and have them regurgitate it for an arbitrary test, but if they don’t really take that knowledge into themselves by a conscious choice of their own to do so, that data is gone relatively quickly.

Moral fiber is built like muscle or mental fiber; by exercise, by choice, by persistence in doing the right thing. Every person has to do that for themselves.

Again, the serenity prayer is about recognizing your own limitations, and respecting boundaries to allow all people to make their own choices. As an individual, you absolutely can stand up and be an example. But that’s literally as far as it goes. If there’s a lesson to be taken from fascism, it’s that forcing people to obey is a dangerous game, and one that will inevitably collapse on itself.

Does respecting others’ agency (the right to choose) mean that sometimes there will be abuses? Certainly. But the other end of the spectrum is the Orwellian nanny state where nothing bad happens simply because it’s not allowed to. Big Brother won’t allow it, by any means. And that’s if we presume that Big Brother is even realistically feasible or morally desirable, which I seriously doubt.

If we respect agency, we have to take the bad with the good. We have to do our part to promote good, certainly, but if we ask for the right to make choices, we have to extend that right to others. The most we can do is be an example. We can preach from the mountain tops and point out the “way things should be”, but it’s not up to anyone to make choices for others.

As such, can someone make a difference? Absolutely. But one person literally cannot change the world. They might start a movement, a mindset, a theology, but it’s the other people that make the choice to follow along that are just as important. The cult of personality ignores the responsibility of the followers, and to attribute such great powers to a single person is to misunderstand history and human psychology. Great leaders, from Hitler to Ghandi, tapped into the psychology of the people around them. Without others buying into his crap, Adolf was just another deluded bigot. Without others promoting peace, Ghandi would just have been another hippie protester.

The egocentric ideal that preaches the “power of one” is a nice fantasy, but ultimately, the only real power that an individual has is over themselves. I’m all for personal responsibility. Far too many people don’t step up and do the right thing. But y’know, you can’t to anything about that. At the end of the day, lofty ideals and motivational posters aside, you can only live your life, and let others live theirs.

If you live your life such that others see it as a good thing, and emulate you, well, that can indeed lead to cultural change. Thing is, you absolutely must start with living your life the right way before trying to evangelize. Otherwise, the hypocrisy undermines the message.

I’m not disagreeing philosophically that the world can be better, and that we each have a personal responsibility to make it better where we can… I’m just pointing out that the “where we can” starts and ends with ourselves. (Again, the point of the serenity prayer.) Pick up a bit of litter as you walk around, help soothe the crying child, chase off the guy stalking the lady on the sidewalk, head the neighborhood watch, run for office, write a blog, whatever. Individuals can do great things, certainly. It’s just that cultural change is based on lots of people doing the right thing, and any one person, while extraordinary in and of themselves, is only as influential as other people choose to allow them to be.

Put another way, great “movements” aren’t built from the ground up to be vast monuments of power wielded by one person. They are built from individuals stepping up and doing the right thing. Movements can change the world, but setting out to create a Utopia isn’t as effective as living up to your own ideals. Living your life expecting or trying to do “something great” is just setting yourself up for failure, and missing the point. Live your own life the way you should, and let the rest sort itself out. If everyone is so worries about changing the world, nothing actually changes, because of that focus on the external, rather than the internal.