Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Toghether we stand


“Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success.”
Henry Ford

You and I are just like the little ant in my last post.
We go around in life, facing challenges and obstacles, and after trials and tribulations and some time heart breaking experiences, we learn the right way of doing things, we discover the right path.
Unlike the ants thou, we do not teach that experience to others, we do not share our path with our neighbors, with our fellow men.
We keep the morsel of truth or wisdom for our selves and let the others go through life facing the same obstacles and perils.

This however is not how things used to be.
This is rather a phenomenon of the modern times we live in.
For thousand of years we have passed our wisdom from generation to generation.
We had our traditions, our customs and rituals we had our coming of age rites and passages.
We had holydays and celebrations we had a spirit of belonging and continuity.

That all stopped when we entered the “ME” era.
All that was seen as an obstacle in the glorification and adulation of “ME” was removed from social life.
“US” had become a dirty word and “ME” was the new rage.
What nobody saw is that “ME” is also “LONELY” “ALONE” and “DESPERATE”

In this new era we have lost the ability to love.
Love has become a hurtful experience and we have learned to avoid it.
We have lost the ability to communicate and debate.
We don’t trust anymore because we’ve been used and abused.
We have grown more and more polarized and divided.
We have become lonely, alone and desperate.

There is no redemption out of the “Me” trap.
Love is a verb. You need somebody to love; you need somebody to be loved.
Trust is a two way street; to have a friend you need to be one.
You can’t be successful, happy or complete, alone.

The only way we will be able to evolve is as a community.
The only way to survive as specie, is to learn how to work together.
The day we will realize that; what happens to our community to our fellow man is happening to us.
The day that we realize that; we are all hurt and scared and lonely and we all need each other to survive.
The day we gather the strength to reach out, to make “US” more important than “ME”
That is the day of our awakening, the day of our redemption.

8 comments:

Mariana Soffer said...

We all now that being egoist is completelly irrational because it ends up being a predjudice to oneself. Hut I think that we should reflect about this because it is currently working bad in our society.

So the breach existing between ignorance and knowledge is not insurmountable however, for there are those that exist at the edge between irrationality and reason that could cross the border in a way similar to what can often be witnessed by the limit crossing of communists/socialists changing to the Capitalist side. This change of position, however, cannot be accomplished by force, in a way identical to a smoker giving up smoking. The decision is personal, it comes from within. All that Objectivists can do is to spread their arguments as wide as possible, even if it means a repetition of effort. This will allow non-Objectivists to come in touch with Objectivist ideas. It remains then in the working of each individual’s mind to make the decision of change, a decision made on the basis of free will. Once the crossing has been made there’s a clear cut and no return to irrationality is possible, not due to some penalizing command as religions issue, but due to the sheer fact that reason has the only valid points of argument. Knowledge obtained cannot be reversed.

Scruffy said...

I love my computer, my desk, my chair, I love carpet, I love carpet.

Ted Bagley said...

You just have to see the movie, "Ants", if you haven't yet.
A funny play on words, together, as the movie is about how the main character, who falls in love with the Princess, is going "to get her" in the end.

Ted Bagley said...

Hey! I love carpet, too!

Ted Bagley said...

Community- Commune; to live alone together.

Karmalized Girl said...

This is a wonderful blog and I found it at a time when my spirits really needed a lift! Thank you for your words of "we" and thoughts about forgetting "me." When we focus on helping the we, the less time we have to whine and worry and drowned in the me.

With gratitude - karmalized girl

Diego said...

@ BoH - Just wanted you to know I am still around and enjoying your posts. This one in particular got me thinking about (again) how important the individual is to the group and vice versa.

Unknown said...

@ Mariana – I’ve been around for over a half century and I’ve never seen greed out of control like right now.
I also have to admit I’ve never seen so many people turning to spirituality either.
So it looks to me that the world is splitting in two. Very interesting.

@ Scruffy – If you like carpet I think you’ll love grass :)

@ Ted – I’ve got a 6 and a 12 years old.
I’ve seen every kid movie there is, and you are right: Ants is an excellent movie even for adults.

@ Karmaklized Girl – Welcome to our little group!
I hope you like us and will stick around for a while :)

@ Diego – No problem Diego, we all have busy lives.
Just stop by any time you like, you are always welcome :)