Sunday, August 23, 2009

Days of Transformation - 4

Here is my global thought for the day.

In previous blog posts on reducing the stress in our lives, I use the Serenity Prayer, asking:

Grant me the ability to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

I received an email from a friend, about all of the negative stuff going on in our country with the financial situation akimbo and the drain of our monies (which we sorely need in this country) to fight wars around the world. And the part of the email that grabbed my attention was:

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. And I would add, responsible for our foreign policy.


I think he has a point here. There are 300 million of us, who elect 545 who have the power to make all the polices that directly impact on our world.

Think about it:
545 is not that big of a number.

Perhaps wisdom should tell us that this is an area where we should be courageous enough to make changes. Can we contact those 545 and let them know how their decisions feel on the grassroots level? Can we educate them? Can we provide them with our ideas as to possible solutions?

What if, instead of dropping bombs in foreign countries:
we built schools there?
and roads?
and distribution centers?
and protected this infa-structure?
Would those folks and the world respect us more than if we kept dropping bombs? And would these people be smart enough, and well fed enough, to stand up to fanatics who want to destroy civilization?

What if, instead of dropping bombs in foreign countries, and bailing out m/billionaire bankers,
we built better schools here?
and made education a priority?
and made sure no one was hungry?
and found homes for everyone who is living on the street?
Would our folks and the world respect us more than they do now with the way we are tossing around money that cannot be repaid? Will we be smart enough and well fed enough to stand up to fanatics who want to destroy civilization?

545 people is a manageable number to educate.
Can we do it?
Should we do it?

and in the words of the first meditation of this series:

If not us - who?
If not now - when?

1 comment:

Jan said...

That's a wonderful -- and revolutionary--way to look at the problem, Ann. That makes it seem so manageable. If, instead of complaining to friends about all that is wrong, we wrote and made suggestions and educated those 545 people in power, I think we could really affect some change.

Excellent post; well said.