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Do you realize how many people and organizations are set up to tell you what to do? Just think about it: Parents (probably a good thing), schools, doctors and hospitals, government organizations, and alarmingly more and more common...corporations! (And don't even get me started on the power of advertising. Don't.) Just exactly when do you get to tell yourself what to do? Don't you usually just feel like cooperating? It takes less energy and you get rewarded by not being harrassed or left unemployed, right? Yeah, but where is this 'freedom' we hear so much about? Take a few minutes and identify when you are actually free and what the activity is. (I just told you what to do. See: You can't trust anybody! :O)) All those years of schooling, hunkering down under peer pressure, coming home to tired parents, has given many of us many opportunities to do anything BUT take a stand, for fear of being a kind of trouble-maker! It's as if they knew all along that we wouldn't really have any rights when we grew up...That it was all a lie. That being told we have rights doesn't mean we won't have to fight for them over and over again...And that takes courage, time, sometimes a lot of money, and often more than one person trying to make the changes necessary to realize that freedom. It takes time to take a stand, and schools haven't made time for dissention, and not all parents have welcomed it! We are told we live in a democracy (it's actually a federalist republic w/democratic leanings and traditions... except for that past few decades) and yet life in a family is not always democratic, and life at school is usually not democratic. From whom are we supposed to learn how to live in a democracy, when we may never experience it in any consistent pattern? I'm sure we all feel somewhat free when we spend our discretionary money (those of us who may have some of that) when we choose what pants to where and what car to drive and where to be ripped off for gas. We also feel free when we choose our friends and buy presents for them, etc. So, when could we have learned that it was our responsibility to express our dissatisfaction when something important had gone awry? When could we have practiced even a gentle form of rebellion and been welcomed and encouraged? When is a good idea of ours listened to by someone free to use it to make a positive change? Not often, if ever, right? It's amazing how much 'management' there is in this scheme, and how few have any power to make changes! It has become the age of the impotent manager, who only knows how to be defensive, circle the wagons, protect the status quo policies, and plead 'it's up to corporate/government., not me!' Well, we all grow up and soon discover we aren't OK with much of what is going on around us. And, as adults, we discover that what we think better matter, because if it doesn't, it begs the question of just who are we blindly following? What is needed, that formerly was called complaining or whining, is now constructive criticism...well thought-out feedback! But who cares? We need to begin to be a part of a larger and larger group of activists who DO care about becoming part of a tradition of valuing citizen participation and concern. Taking a stand is important to encourage excellence and necessary to bring about needed changes! After all, we can't...we shouldn't... leave everything up to the government (and the corporations that 'own' them...) They are OUR servants, and we are the people! Well, some of us grow up to feel this way...Some don't. Those who have learned their own value in creating the world we live in... as well as those who need encouragement... are invited to join together in reading and submitting their stories: Stories of successes and failures...they both are important! The more common 'taking a stand' becomes, the more power we can take back from those who would convince us we have very little. It's all about supporting each other and doing our individual part in standing for what we believe in, what we would fight for, what we are willing to 'stand in line' for! If you want to be a government educated, corporate stooge, don't stand up...and stop talking about those who are dying for our freedoms: Our freedoms aren't worth much if we don't take them seriously. And remember, $100,000 in student loans, or being indebted to Master Card, etc., is not freedom. Nor is mortgaging a home that never gets paid off. Those are ways to justify giving up freedom. We are conditioned to accept this and rarely even know that we can say 'no.' Here's the schedule: Programmed schooling for at least 12 years, more non-specific training (many degrees do not prepare students to be immediately employable upon graduation) through college, for which much is paid or borrowed, followed by working for a corporation (Hey: You have a 'degree' which entitles you to become an 'exempt' employee: No work rights basically;) followed by 'falling' in love and getting married, (here again, a huge amount of money for that one day, possibly borrowed) quickly followed by new additions to the entire equation, called children, (consider looking into the side effects of vaccinations...like autism...you know, where you child doesn't look at you, call you 'daddy' or talk... and consider saying 'no thanks, Mr. Gov.t'...) and the cycle begins all over for them, while you try to have a life, make a life for them for 20 years or so, pay your taxes, (did we mention Social Security won't be there when you retire because the government has been using your money to pay the people on Social Security, but there won't be enough people to pay for yours?)... so don't forget to save for retirement! This includes playing the stock market, all based on futurist predictions, tying up large amounts in the 401k plan you hope you can afford, and there's that health insurance/savings plan, and then there's college for your children! All the while, keeping up two automobiles or more, just to get around and work, and the accompanying insurance and payments. Feeling free? We send people into wars to die and be injured, badly, for this opportunity. People crash the borders of our country to get this opportunity. This is the good stuff, this freedom. Just exactly what kind of 'system' did we get born into? Things can be better, but we can't sleepwalk through the system and never stand up for anything rational! Join us as we take-a-stand! It's extremely important that you do your part...do one thing about one thing!... and get others to join in on taking back our freedom! |
Take-A-Stand submissions: editor@thinkscapes.com 
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