A revolution is bound to happen. In fact, I believe it has to happen. You see, dear reader, our society is broken. And we all know what happens to broken societies – just look at the Roman Empire. They decided entertainment and luxury were the cornerstone of their society. Sound familiar? In this day and age, even the news is classified as Infotainment… Our society is now just on a global scale.
So why do I say our modern, forward thinking, society is broken, you may ask? For a number of reasons. The most prominent reason is that our generation and the ones after it are simply lost. What is our goal? We have no wars to fight, no morals to strive for (as a collective – individually we have all the morals and we all know that we are right and they are wrong – but thats another story). Simply put, this generation has no moon to reach for. The life goals are simply to get educated, get a job and get a family. We are told life is what you make it and then forced to fit in the norms.
Another reason is that we have forgotten the basis of democracy. We elect leaders who do nothing, all the while complaining without doing anything ourselves. Change begins at the grassroots levels, and for every one criticising their leaders about it, they themselves are doing nothing in their own backyard to drive change. Sure, you go ahead and post that revolution motivational poster on Facebook, link to the 5th of November on Twitter and then in the morning go to your 9 to 5 job selling insurance. Its not going to change unless you make the change. You want change, tell the people you elect the type of change you want and if they don’t deliver, kick them out of office. Just don’t forget to do your bit working at the grassroots level. We seem to accept all politicians lie, and yet are shocked when they do. Does no one ever think to change this? Can we not fire or arrest these people? Its a thought I struggle with everyday. The public is more numerous than the elected officials – so why can we not storm their castles as it were?
Education is another failing. The way we teach our young reflects exactly where we are as a society. We give them “what-you-need-to-know” and then twice a year get them to repeat it back to us. Is this the way we are meant to grow collective knowledge? I don’t think so. We need to encourage out of the box thinking. Thinking that challenges the old and shapes the new. Yes its full of clichés , and I have no idea how to even change this. One thing I do wish the education systems taught has to do with practical, everyday stuff. I used to think it should be things like how to budget, what to look for in a car, how to bank, how to do taxes, how to turn idea to action. These days I think the first class should be What not to share on Facebook 101. Change education so it becomes useful, interesting, engaging. With the wealth of knowledge now at our finger tips, humanity should be redefining itself every other week.
Money. That’s what it all comes down to. Today we aim to get the biggest and the most, and I myself am even guilty of this. Falling head first into the giant capitalistic monster. And yet, I am doing nothing different to anyone else. This labels me as a hypocrite, and I can accept that.
I just hope I can teach my children to question the social norm. To challenge the old and to go as far as to replace it with the new. For it demands a lot of self sacrifice.
“First they ignore you
Then they laugh at you
Then they fight you
Then you win”
