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"Every generation needs a revolution"
~ Thomas Jefferson.
The world you live in works in perfect harmony no?...
Wait, so you're telling me there are problems?...
Oh right, they are not YOUR problems and there is nothing YOU can do anyway. I see...
Well, since we are being honest, YOUR IGNORANCE OFFENDS ME.
Last month, a 14 year old girl was shot in Pakistan for being vocal about living under the Taliban rule. An attempt to silence her simply because she believed girls had a right to education. At this very moment, somewhere in Gaza, a palestinian family just lost their father to the bullet of a gun, shot by an Israeli soldier. A bullet shot simply because "they can". And in just a few minutes, somewhere in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, a child will die of hunger. Starved to death simply because the government refuses to allow humanitarian aid into the region.
Funny where our priorities lie don't you think? We can send mankind to the moon, spend hours airing how a man will free fall from space and borrow tons of money for war but we cannot send children to school, spend hours airing and speaking out against all the injustices going on in our world or borrow tons of money to end war. Now if you don't see anything wrong with this situation then you represent one of two things; you either represent the monotonous messed up system that's been in control for decades or you are the ignorant one this is addressed to. You have simply accepted to 'co-exist', accepting that good and bad exist and you will therefore just 'live and let live'. Your sister is receiving a good education, you live in a region with no conflict so you don't have to worry about gun shots that might leave your father gasping for breath and you are definitely not starving so no need for concern.
But then again, maybe you're sharing and liking photos/status updates of all these atrocities behind your computer desk which makes you somewhat informed and against them right?... As a friend correctly put it to me once, "we live in a time of what Naseem Talib refers to as 'cosmetic revolutionaries'; being a part of a revolution by wearing a t-shirt or walking bare foot or changing a status update". You see sharing is informative and very important but after that, what are you doing to change that situation you empathised with? What further steps are you taking to make the slightest of a difference? The problem here is, we have substituted our feelings, thoughts and actions, for buttons. We have allowed 'sharing' and 'liking' to rob us of expression. Not only do we lack expression and the ability to speak out against issues, we only act on virality. A sort of ripple effect in the sense of, "if everyone is sharing it on my timeline, I will too". A FEAR OF BEING WRONG. We are too scared to share our opinions and thoughts or act on what we believe because we fear we might be wrong or that others will disagree. But aren't these arguments and debates what help us move forward? If we are ever going to solve any of the world's problems, then we need to be wrong more often instead of pretending to know it all.
As human beings, we grow taller, allowing us to reach heights we couldn't reach as infants(no matter what your height, it is definitely not the same as when you were younger). This only goes to show one thing, the aim of life is to develop, to keep striving to move forward and reach greater heights... Perhaps we are meant to create a global society. In fact, we ARE meant to create a global society. We have evolved from villages to tribes, from tribes to clans, from clans to cities and from cities to countries/nations which are all classified under various continents. We have witnessed the development of International Law and the UNHRC which set forth rules and principles binding on all countries (Although a number of countries have gotten away with breaking these, namely Israel under the protection of the U.S... But hey, that's a topic for another day). The creation of a global society here is therefore not the question, as it is inevitable. The real question however, is how will we shape it and in what way?
If it is to be shaped correctly, and made a place where we are all existing as humans, it is the acts of every single person, you and I, that will make a difference. More often than not, two arguments are represented by the two sides of a coin, and the side facing up on it's landing wins. Basically, we depend on luck to solve our problems, and others may tip the coin in their favor with the use of firearms, tanks, snippers or bulldozers. But It is time we took a different approach as human beings if we are ever to build the right global society, where your neighbour isn't really your enemy because you differ in thoughts or look different or share different religious views or a different ethnicity, it is all a matter of understanding. We need to stop depending on luck, or force to land the coin to heads or tail, but instead, reach an understanding to buy butter with that coin for the benefit of the two parties involved. Doing so begins with us not waiting until the problem is in our backyard, not waiting until it is your sister being denied an education, your father being brutally shot or yourself starving to death, to act.
We must take advantage of all we have at our disposal(social media, our education, our material well being) and use these as stepping stones to uplift society. We need to speak out, and loudly at that, against all atrocities around the world, because silence is complicity. It has been said that "one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel", so if you're waiting for the problem to come knocking on your door, you won't have to wait too long, believe me. So why wait? We mustn't allow ourselves to be a failed generation. Let US build the right global society and leave behind a society we can proudly look down on and say "I helped shape that".
Oh ok, so you know there are problems?...
Oh right, you still think they are not YOUR problems and there is nothing YOU can do anyway. I see...
Well, since we are being honest, YOUR IGNORANCE OFFENDS ME.
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