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AND THEN ONE DAY SOMEONE ASKS, “Well you know, you
have some good ideas about what's wrong and even some good
ideas about how things should be, but can you tell us… how
do we get from here to there?”
Yes:
One
Answer:
Well perhaps it's time to take stock. If I
can't answer this question what does all the rest mean anyway.
Do I have an answer? Who would have this answer? I think to
myself… What do I know? What do I see? Where am I? Where am
I going? Looking out into the world, I say to myself, I was
once there where they are and now I'm here. How did I get
here? And I review in my mind all of my experiences and where
I've been and what I've done and also what I've said and
written… mistakes I've made, doors I've opened and doors
I've closed. And here I am. I wasn't born this way. Or maybe I
was and didn't know it. Maybe they were born this way too and
don't know it. I've had many teachers. Who is not my teacher?
I learned but I can't go back and wouldn't go back and
wouldn't send you to them. Am I what I am because of them…
in spite of them…? Yes. And anyway, a true prophet does not
want to be followed, except perhaps for a little while. And a
true prophet does not have a religion, nor does he or she
want, I don't think, to be the object of one. A true prophet
says to himself, I have always changed and here I am. How do I
know what I will be tomorrow? My truth — it changes every
day. If someone believes my truth, will they live free and
change like me, or live in the prison of what I once was? And
should I lead them into a fight and have there be a war… or
not fight and have them be consumed by the tyranny of an
unseen, unexamined culture of fear, greed and mediocrity. It
is not war or peace, but war or... degradation. What am I to
do, to say? If you were where I am, you would not be where I
was, and you would be standing here with me, same as I…. Not
asking the question. Trying to answer it. ...Or asking it, but
not asking me. What is valuable to a prophet, I think, is not
what he has to say but what he is. He would like to give it
away, but what is there to give? He wants you only to be you,
being what you are, having what he has, for yourself. Not to
be a follower or a believer, but to have what is yours when it
is yours to have. Same question we started with…. How do you
get from here to there? I am not a prophet. If I were a prophet wouldn't I be more than this? But everybody has
something to give, and this is what I'm offering. You already
know what to do. Didn't someone you've heard of already point
the way? Why? I can tell you this...not to be worshipped. Not
to be followed... but to give you the opportunity to know and
not have to believe. The answer: truth, honor, dignity,
compassion, courage, love.
Another
Answer:
The people we usually call leaders in our
political culture are really followers. They lead by
expressing the consciousness of the majority and when the
majority identifies with that consciousness, they recognize
the “leader” as one of their own, a limited bond of trust
occurs, and then they follow. The problem is, the
consciousness of the majority doesn't have the vision to know
what is needed, and so neither does the “leader.” That is
different from the kind leadership that inspires people to
become more than what they thought they could be... leadership
that has a vision and the ability to awaken in others the
desire to learn something new, to take a chance on their
highest aspirations. That kind of leadership is quite rare.
Unfortunately, we don't make it easy or
pleasant for people with those kinds of skills to get far
enough along in the political process to even be heard. Why?
Because we don't want to see what it is they have to offer.
The system is rigged in a number of ways and our culture
worships the status quo; it feeds on itself. Because what they
have to offer is the simple truth that to have what we say we
want will require responsibility on our part. You can begin at
any point and say it starts there, but it's beyond the
starting point now.
But just for argument's sake, we could say
it starts in how we run our schools. We are very good at
teaching our children not to love others. Just take a look at
our priorities as it relates to schools. In many communities,
children are able to attend well-designed, well-equipped,
well-staffed, well-managed schools. In other neighborhoods the
schools are not well funded and the children are not given
what they require to succeed. Some children are failing before
they even begin. These children often learn not to respect
education, not to find it inspiring. This creates a subculture
that discourages its members from valuing or excelling in
those very activities that could change their lives and allow
them to become vital participants in society, thereby
transforming their relationship with the future... and
transforming society, too.
And so, we have a divided nation now and as
far into the future as we can see. And this division insures
its own perpetuation. This makes no sense in an enlightened
society. It is antithetical to our stated values of Democracy
— equal rights, and equal protection under the law. Public
education ought to be uniformly good and where children are
disadvantaged, an even greater effort on the part of
government should be made, to bring them up to speed. But
that's not how it works. If it did work that way, life as we
know it could be transformed in just a few generations. And
there's no good reason why it can't happen... except for the
human and political forces at work that won't let it happen.
Who could advance such an idea? Who would
run these schools, who would teach these children? We'd have
to shift our resources from weaponry to livingry and who wants
to do that? This would take the extraordinary commitment of
individual citizens willing to take personal responsibility
for themselves, their families, their neighborhood, their
country, and their planet... but most folks don't want to do
that or simply won't do that and so everyone goes about
scratching their heads and wringing their hands or just tuning
out. Same answer: truth, honor, dignity, compassion, courage,
love.
Another
Answer:
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind...
Same answer: truth, honor, dignity, compassion, courage, love.
Another
Answer:
Same
answer: truth, honor, dignity, compassion, courage, love.
Six words that all mean the same thing...
which is to say, none is wholly itself without the other five.
Be any one — that's how to get from here to there.
Final
answer: love
Start by learning to love everyone else's children at
least almost as much as you love your own. Everything else will follow.
From "The
Answer" by Mark A. Goldman
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