A "Poli-sophical" Rant----and tribute to Wordless Wednesday's "Balloon Girl"
Given these extraordinary economic times it is sometimes difficult to step outside of ourselves and look at the big picture. After all, when things get tough it is more than natural to focus inward in self interest. What this does is narrow our view to such an extent that we can no longer benefit from the many advantages of having a bigger view of what is going on.
As we focus on survival, of paying the bills, of feeding our families and paying the mortgage it is very easy to forget that we are all on this ship together. When times are "tough" it can be easy to think of the people around us as somehow less important---even unnecessary. (Some people seem to make this a way of life regardless of how tough the times are.) We become egotistical, ethnocentric and nationalistic.
Even our definition of the "Bigger Picture" is defined by our own limitations. How many people's "big view" stops at their state borders, their country's borders, their religion's borders or some combination of them all?
I would argue that none of these things are even close to the biggest view we can have.
Is it not so that any view that does not include everything is, by definition, going to exclude someone or something? (The worst version of this has to be people who are "born" excluded.) Who are we willing to vote off the island? I would rather ask, "Who are we willing to vote off the planet?" There may come a time when we discover that even a "planetary view" is not big enough, as there may very well be other planets that are willing to vote Planet Earth out of the solar system. I think we need to be a lot more careful about what individuals, religions or countries we decide to vote off the island. One of the points of a "bigger view" is that everything changes and one day it may be us that gets voted off the island.
The tough questions are not whether this or that person is the cause of all our problems but rather how can we get everyone to see how inter-related we all are. How much of our precious resources are we delegating to this endeavor? Precious little I would argue. As a species, one step at a time, we have come to where we are in history. I think we are all culpable----to think otherwise is to define the trap our mind is in. One way to look at this is to see us all as "one being" and that our individual separateness, while real on one level, is an illusion on the level of the bigger picture. Do we cut off our arm to spite our face?
What would it take for the entire planet to see that Economic richness in one part of the globe requires poverty in another?
What would it take to see that plenty of food in one area requires that there be inadequate food supplies in other areas?
What would it take to see that polluting the farm lands in the land of Dorothy will ruin the shrimp harvest in the Gulf of Mexico? All over the planet we have all these not so subtle versions of, "f___ you" going on with only lip-service given to "caring." Does anyone seriously doubt the relationship between "Hummers" on the streets of America and "Humvees" around the world?
There will always be this balance between the extremes. It would seem that a larger view on the part of all of us would enable the extremes to be somewhat moderated. The endless waves, or cycles, of existence can't be changed; and, it is my opinion that the extremes can be lessened to the point that we neither have people so rich that they don't even know how rich they are, nor children that die before they are weaned from their starving mothers.
It is this lack of a bigger view----a view outside of the selves---that has created the tremendous gulf between the "haves" and the "have-nots" around the world, and has radicalized many people to the point where they have no room for a bigger view----where all that matters is their small view----survival----and "Pink Balloons."
No matter what our economic position this should sound familiar to everyone on the planet. We all get trapped in our own small view. We all at times say, "My way or the highway." We expect our leaders to maintain our small view----to kill other people and their small views in order that our own small view survives. We do this in the name of "progress" or "religion" or "race" or "country." It really doesn't matter what clothes we dress it up in as long as it allows us to "dehumanize" those with undesirable views; and, make starvation, disease, and poverty somehow palatable.
I think some reasonable questions to ask of ourselves are: does my view open doors or close doors; and, does my view require that others be like me----or else?
"But, but, but.......," you say.
It would seem to me that all "buts" are merely attempts to maintain the way things are----to define and bolster a smaller view.
We expend vast resources to maintain this poor approach. What good does it do a people to have tremendous physical wealth if they are morally and spiritually bankrupt?
The real question is: Do we have the balls as a planet to act in a way that everyone is benefited? Are we capable of a "HUGE VIEW"----bigger than individuals, states, countries, religions, races and even the Beatles?
The answer for me is actually quite simple: "We must." (Or----to quote someone smarter than me, "Yes we can.")
Charles Buell
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I cannot begin to tell you how truly inspiring this blog is. You are a very thoughtful and beautiful person. I was more and more entranced as I read. This should be required reading. We need a library on the Rain on which to store some of our more treasured posts. Thank you so very much for the time and effort you put into creating this gorgeous and exhilarating post! Bless you.
Suzanne, in all honesty, sometimes when I write I wonder where this stuff comes from myself. I was shocked to see it get featured on the first comment:) I am really happy to see it will get a wider viewing.
A well written blog it's nice to see the big picture-sometimes with day to day living we tend to forget about the big picture. Thanks for making and reminding us what is really important.
Pat, thanks for your comment
Charles - Damn man. Reading this gave me chills. This is probably one of the best posts I've read in quite some time. To have this featured so quickly, damn right it should be! I'm kind of wordless over here, this is wonderful example of prose and wisdom at its finest. Thank you!
Agree with Sardi. What a refreshing change to read this point of view after viewing way too many divisive posts. I'm a "Live and Let Live" person and there is room for every kind of person in my universe. This is why I don't belong to any organization - too exclusive. i might miss the fun :)
btw... this is wonderfully written :)
Exceptional piece Charles! My day just got better reading it! Diggin the HUGE PICTURE! I'll be paying much more attention to it going forward! Thanks Charles!
Well Inspector... You seem to have pinpointed a problem but often the solution is extremely difficult. We the people really have a very faint voice in the bunch of bull we call society.
Jason---you sure now how to flatter a guy---I consider you one of the best writers in the rain (especially with the sorely missed Lenza gone:)
Jennifer----thanks so much.
Charles - Congratulations on the feature. This is the most amazing post I have read in a very long, long time.
Scott, you are welcome----keep diggin the HUGE PICTURE:)
Dan, that is why it is so important for each of us to do in our own small way what we can.
Sandra, thanks for you kind words
Thank you Charles for the beautifully crafted message, I appreciate the depth of your thoughts. The world and specifically the US are coming to a cross roads where we all need to re-analyze the things we used to believe were important. Have a blessed Thanksgiving,
Ronelle, glad you liked it----I would say we are at the crossroads:) We have SO much to be thankful for.
Great post Charles, obviously form the heart. I know a lot of people that should read this. I am going to subsctibe to your blog after this one.
Jason, thanks for the comment and for subscribing to my blog---I will do my best to keep you entertained:)
Charles- I have to assume after reading your post and your comments about sometimes not knowing where where it sometimes comes from , seems to me like it came from God through you to make us all stop and think and give. I believe solutions can be found if enough people are looking for a solution. If more than less people were only self aware and self interested our world could be a better place. Should be a better place.
Tammy, there are theories of motivating people that say that a remarkable small number of people have to actually change their thinking in order to shift the direction of the masses around them. Kind of like a 10 mile per hour wind can alter the course of a oil tanker while a hurricane can destroy it in the process of altering its course.
Charles, well written. This is truly an inspiration to us all.
Deep water off the island.
Aloha,
Keahi
Loved your blog. I really enjoy pointing at things to see what they say.
Thanks Danny
Keahi, better than "hot water" off the island I guess:)
Marian, I have a lot of fun with the "hidden" messages----not sure how many people ever actually see them:)
Charlie B,
You are getting pretty darn sophisticated here. Does this mean that you will become high brow and quite eating at McDonalds.
If only we can get South American countries to cut down on deforestation. Japan on Uneccessary whaling. But conversely, using Africa as a model for what can happen when you don't value the land. The bigger picture in terms of how to preserve the planet would be to learn from our mistakes. If we are truly in a global economy then we as humans aren't doing anything to stop the factors that will ultimately put us all in danger. Global warming whether you believe it or not is at least bringing the focus of taking care of the environment into the foreground. Unfortunately since every government seems to be going through a recession it will be another 10 years till we get to the point where cash is available.
It is impossible however to please the masses. You can please some people some of the time but you can't please all the people all of the time. An old saying that still rings true today. There are simply not enough people who are in a position to be able to change the world. This is why we turn inward. We try to better our own lives and those around us in hopes it will be paid forward to another small group of people; the end result being a wider spread change. Times like this, as it was in 1992 when we were coming out of a previous recession, give people a chance to learn from past mistakes. Seeing that people still aren't saving money and are still spending it like there's no tomorrow it would seem we haven't learned that lesson. It takes constant education to repair these mistakes.
The mention about classes and equality. It's a nice thought but it can't happen. Notice i said, can't. Can't for the reason that it would take massive wealth distribution to achieve this. Furthermore it flies directly against the grain of our country's founding principles. Those who work hard should deserve a better life. That is the rewards of doing so. There is however a point when enough is enough. Sports stars of today are the biggest example of that. Million dollar contracts to play a sport which is dictated by sponsors and team revenue. It sends a terrible message to our youth and explains why so many of them toss away their high school diplomas in hopes for a mediocre sports career even though the odds are stacked against them.
As far as who to vote off the island or planet. This is a terrible thought but a legitimate one. There are definetely forces on this planet that do more bad than good. Noone wants to play god however and those that do get ridiculed are called national imperialists. This is unfortunately out of the hands of the common man and thus our confidence must lay with our government and their decisions.
This is a very thought provoking post, one that perhaps could be written 1000 years from now as it has a very futuristic message. But one that can't be dismissed as our planet faces troubled times ahead.
Great article, worthy of the feature. Keep up the good work. You just gained a new subscriber tonight.
Steve, if that is the definition of "High Brow"---I guess I have been that way since 1966----the last time I remember ever going to MacDonalds.
Castellum Realty, thanks for your comment---we certainly have our work cut out for us as a planet----but haven't we always? While we may not know the future, given the past, it is highly unlikely that it will be worse than much of our past. I may be wrong about that but I certainly can't think of another time I would want to go back to. It is important to not live in either the past or the future. The future is only in trouble to the degree that we screw up today. On an individual level as long as we are vigilant and answer the questions asked of us with what truly makes sense for us as opposed to our neighbors we will be OK. As an example do we buy the Prius or the Hummer or better yet can we bicycle to our job? As long as we have to do it the same way our neighbor does---the problem only gets worse. The Money and Sports issue is merely an exaggeration of all of us I think----we encourage it all by going to the games and buying the beer on the TV adds. Everyone could buy beer that is not advertised on TV----man would that shift things in a hurry:) Thanks so much for subscribing to my blog---hopefully I will continue to entertain.
Charles, Congratulations for the star... I must say that for a rant, this is well written so that even a country bumpkin like me can understand it...
Yes I think your right :]
Thanks Bubba
Ronelle, I would settle for helpful:)
That was a great blog, Charles. They grabbed it as a feature while it was hot off the presses, didn't they. You need to pick up my book that I wrote about on the mema. You might like it.
Barbara, yes it is one that is on my list----don't read as much as I would like to; and, yes they featured it when it had only one comment and within ten minutes of my posting it:)
Hi Charles...The fact that your post is being featured is not only a tribute to you but to the powers that be at the Rain.
Thank you for articulating the very thoughts that are ingrained within me.
Kate
P.S. I subscribed.
Kate, Thank you for your kind words---it is important to make whatever difference we can.
P.S. Me too:)
Wow! You must be snowed in up there! This is deep stuff! I might have to go ponder on this for a spell...
No problem Charles. Thanks for the reciprocation.
Lizette, "rained in" perhaps (or should that be "reigned in?":)
Castellum Realty, thanks for commenting:)
A great featured blog....Wow!.... Nicely written....didn't skip a word.
Joel, thanks for the comment!
I have taken a lot of notice of the Pirating of ships of the coast of Somalia as the world tries to exchange exports throught the Suez canal. Show me , that we are a state in a world nation and need to all work together for the greater good,
James, there will always be those that demonstrate/define how much we need to pull together.
What an insightful post. It was put together very nicely. Very good food for thought.
Thank you Erika
Charlie, I do not find this piece from you surprising. Reading your stuff and in speaking with you I find you are a guy who definitely looks at the big picture more than most of us. I agree with how you think, we need to look beyond our own little worlds. We affect each other by what we do and how we act toward each other.
On a lighter note, I don't go to McDonald's either or drink the beer that is advertised on sports games.
James, I find it interesting that people LOVE to go on vacation and see other parts of the world---we need to do this in our heads as well:)
Charlie, I believe many of us escape reality from time to time. Some of that is done in not so constructive means. But if you find a good destination hopefully it speaks to you. Looks like yours did--more like it shouted:)
Perhaps:)
How guiding is human nature? Is it not human nature to act with in one's own self interest before looking out for others? As humans we are pre disposed to think that we and the people we know or love are more important than the people we don't know or love. Speaking genetically speaking we are likely to want to see our own genetic code survive so how far of a leap is it to say that my genes (and the genes that I deem admirable) are more important than other genes. The historical record is full of examples of civilizations that didn't make it because they were unable (or unwilling) to shift to a bigger picture and alter their own world view in the interests of self preservation (I wonder if we could call this Civil Suicide). I would imagine a massive humanitarian crisis of the likes that humans have never seen before that would need to be so large and so destabilizing as to open the eyes of every one because their is no other alternative other that mass extinction. When we see bumper stickers that say save the planet make no mistake what you should be seeing is save ourselves. Can humanity make it? I believe so. But to what end? If you want to think really big picture we should probably ponder for what reason humans exist period. perhaps when all is said and done we will be a blip in an experiment designed to create a sustainable civilization (I believe any truly sustainable civilization is Utopian in nature) As far as humans are concerned we are not there yet. Could be that right now none of this is even really happening. Or it could be that it is really happening but it just doesn't matter in the bigger picture. In the end, I can't help but wonder if in the bigger picture the island or the planet is really some thing elses smaller picture. Just think at any given molment two P-brains could collide and end this silly little blogging post.
on that note the following is a quote in reference to one of our darkest chapters of human history or our most glaring attempt at voting people off the island (The Holocaust).
"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" - Rabbi Hillel
Klee, thanks for adding all this----the Rabbi quote pretty much sums it up.
I'm one of the darkest optimists I know. In all likely hood, in the big picture we are the castaways of the Island. Also in all likely hood, it is doubtful that anything any of us ever does or accomplishes will add up to a hill of beans on the cosmic scale. In that light we should be thankful that the pressure we put on our selves to survive as a species is all self imposed and we really have nothing at all to worry about. As I've heard it said the problems we have are the ones we choose. Oh and dad, you may not have been to a Mc Donalds in a while but you sure used to pack away the fish sandwich's at Skippers.
As far as Nutzy is conserned, From a Physics stand point I have found nothing that explains the existence of a confused and challenged bushy tailed rat (other than rat soup).
Mr Charles,
Please let your offspring know that, in my new law enforcement part-time job, I am watching him. I am now commissioned and ready to take action.
Klee, "darkest optomist"----I may have to use that one. I remember Skippers well after many a road trip----I do remember that you were the only one that got the "all you can eat" though:)
Steve, it looks to me like he could use a few more pixels before ge goes anywhere:) Maybe we could say he is a few pixels short of a full rodent.
A few acorns short of a tree.
STEVEN SMITH, YOU DON'T PAY THAT SQUIRREL ENOUGH SO HE HAS TO GET A PART TIME JOB!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!!!
James, pretty soon he will be missing at lunch:)
Barbara, I think Nutsy is just being consistent with being a squirrel----zig-zagging all over the place.
Charles, talking to someone like me that excels at the big picture, you are right that individuals and countries need to think impact on the whole. If there were caring globally we could dismantle armies. Unfortunately like you mentioned with pollution in Kansas, the smoke drifts over to the next town and the polluter doesn't care till someone infringes on their turf. The world is not perfect but with a can do "yes we can" attitude we can try to improve it.
Well Gary, as long as we are going to dream we might as well dream BIG:)
Awesome Blog Charles! Not sure how I missed it on Day 1. There is a poster hanging on my son's pediatrician's wall that has a picture of Noah's Ark, and It states, "We are all in the same boat; You sink, I sink!" We are all in this together and if we don't look at the big picture, @#%@*.
Amy, so true---glad you found the post eventually:)
Looks like Stephens been spending way to much time across the border..........polisophical.........very interesting.......my fellow Landmarkian...-)
Liz, he goes to Point Roberts all the time and he still doesn't get the "point.":)
Well I was with you to the very end, and then you wanted me to take a huge view, bigger even than The Beatles. Nope. That's where you lost me -- LOL.
Wonderful post. A series of questions and concepts each one of has to come to terms with. Each of my individual creature comforts has often been paid for by another. I can practice living green, conserving resources, being sustainable, buying local, walking to the store, sharing, caring for others, etc. -- and while this is all good stuff and I believe in it -- it is a luxury that others here in this country and elsewhere do not have. I am convinced that we - the affluent and users of more than our share of the world's resources - must change and use less, change our standard before we can ask/demand that others change theirs.
Russel, afraid so----even the Beatles:)
Alexsandra, well said----thanks for visiting and commenting.