When I go back and consider some of my opinions, even those as recent as five years ago, I scare myself.
I hope we all do; it’s a good thing. We all know that as we age, we are supposed to evolve, learn more about a lot of things, including ourselves, and life. We also mature. The combination of maturation, liberation, education and illumination leads to the culmination of great change. We also grow in compassion and altruism – hopefully. These are all good things.
When we’re very young, we’re less socially sophisticated because we’re being taught certain things certain ways. Our arena of learning is smaller, windows of opportunity are limited, and we’re learning through numerous filters. As we grow older, we learn for ourselves. We realize that there are systems in place for most situations in life on the planet, but that those systems don’t work well for all. They are uniform, flat, and their one-size-fits-all rules don’t fit anyone well, let alone all. We learn about individualism, varying circumstances and the part that chance plays in every person’s development.
We learn that nothing works, at least not well – often, not even well enough and sometimes, not at all. Systems are either rigged or just adequate for the time being. Only when we’re very lucky will they create conditions that function for many people, to some degree, much of the time, in most situations. Nothing can ever be perfect for everyone, but we must work to create systems that work better with their greatest equality.
Sadly, many systems in place are cunningly designed to not work better. That certainly isn’t because we can’t design better ideas or make them stick. It’s more that those in power, who design and implement the plans, or financially buoy them, don’t actually want the plans to be as equitable as possible. Chatterbox recently talked briefly about the purposeful imbalance in public schools supported in great part by land taxes, but we can cite many, including a recent tax bill tipped to serve greater wealth for a longer time. Still, the sales pitches worked.
Living our life and witnessing those of others, watching the imbalances and dealing with them, we learn – or we should. It’s rare for anyone to not experience evolving opinions over time. Experience, maturing, increasing social awareness, and just learning the ins and outs and common sense of it all by simply being alive, teaches us that everything not only has gray area but everything is gray area.
We live and witness various situations. We learn both personally and vicariously. If we are aging and learning but not changing, something is wrong. If we’re resisting change, we should recognize why. It may be just for resistance’s sake, or a narrowness of mind, absence of compassion or obstinacy derived from bigotry, wealth arrogance or social, racial, gender or physical bias.
Such poverty of magnanimousness is our own loss but also human loss on many levels. It affects our efficiency as part of the human population and our contribution to it, every day. It limits the achievement and joy of that human population – including us and our loved ones – and leaves its mark on the only thing we leave behind forever: our legacy.
For all people, the planet and every nation to be sustainable, stable and successful, we must all work together as one people. So, we should learn to adapt, understanding that throughout our lifetime, changing our perceptions, opinions and our stand is something that not only should happen but must happen and, if we are intelligent, we’ll allow it to happen.
Nearly nothing changes completely, but everything changes, no matter how modestly. What we think about everything must mature with us, lest we stagnate and grow ignorant. What we feel and believe about what society does, reflects, earns or deserves, and what part the human race plays in the Gaia that keeps us alive and working together, should most particularly change.
The world is a hive. The viability of all bees is essential to survival. Individuals must adapt or progress is lost. We must continually expand our vantage point, becoming more world citizens than locals minimized by exclusivity. Our growth is part of all growth. It’s more than age; it’s seeking progress for everything on the full scale including other people’s lives in a truly democratic way.
Change: it’s inevitable, necessary … and it’s a good thing.
Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.
