One of my friends posted on facebook this morning saying "I am the luckiest girl alive today because that cop didn't give me a DUI."
No, she is lucky she didn't fucking kill anyone last night. I don't know how drunk she was, but if she thinks she deserved a DUI, then she was drunk enough to not be driving. I am discouraged about things like this. I'm just starting to wonder if the majority of people just don't think, or if they don't care, or if they just don't realize that being alive in this day, in this country, comes with responsibilities that we must begin considering. And we must also consider that our intentions, and actions, and in-actions, have a profound effect on the other lives we share this world with.
I am empowered to see people here at Evergreen taking responsibility for their roles in this world. Trevor Van Dyke, a fellow writing tutor, is one of my heroes. He is constantly working toward equality in human/human, human/animal relationships. He has bettered himself by removing all animal products from his diet (including honey). He attends and participates in probably daily meetings with such groups as Amnesty International, Student Union, ect. I go to his facebook and the first thing I see is his newsfeed:
Trevor is attending Criminales Todos: A Community Art Exhibit.
Trevor is attending TransGuys Community Awards Voting.
Trevor is attending Oly Childcare Collective Volunteer Orientation!
Trevor is attending Student Activities Brunch.
Trevor attended International Transgender Day of Remembrance Candlelit Vigil.
Trevor attended SDS Budget Hearing.
Trevor attended Save the Loft Action Meeting.
and two articles he posted about gay rights, and two more articles he posted protesting violent law enforcement, and the list just goes on.
He doesn't drink, and he rides the bus or his bike, so he doesn't have to worry about getting a DUI, or hurting anyone in a car.
He dedicates his life and his time to bettering the world, to being involved in the community, to learning, to supporting individuals and the collective whole.
He is what I aspire to be like. He is incredible, responsible.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know, we as a species have decided that we are entitled to "rights". And we founded this country on this ethereal idea of a freedom that we are entitled to, as well as an idea of equality. If we truly believe in these ideas, we must also realize there is a breaking point between freedom and equality. I am starting to think we can't have both. There seems to be a point where selfishness just won't do, and we are far beyond that point, scale-wise. Because of the amount of people we share this world with, we don't have the same freedom or rights we had on a smaller scale. I believe we have collectively lost our individual rights because so many individuals have taken so much advantage of the "freedom" they are privileged to have, and because of that we deny it to others. One major illustration of this is the distribution of wealth in this country. That is unequal, and it doesn't represent collective freedom at all. So we have neither. We have revoked our combined freedom and equality because too many have too little, because too many (albeit, comparatively few, to the have-nots) have too much. I think that's what I meant by "individual liberty destroying collective liberty."
Just think about it... You will probably disagree, but I stand by it: we don't have the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want. Not anymore. And if we believe in the "core values" of this "country" then I would think we would want to do something about this in our own lives...
Well, this is what I believe, but I think I've realized I'm not going to convince you to change. So whats the point of writing in this blog then? I guess its part of my way of trying to make a difference. I think all we can do is try anyway.
Again, I am inviting comments, questions, rebuttal. Please. I know I have been fairly vague... But I don't have to be, so just let me know what you wanna hear/talk more about.
Trevor is attending Oly Childcare Collective Volunteer Orientation!
Trevor is attending Student Activities Brunch.
Trevor attended International Transgender Day of Remembrance Candlelit Vigil.
Trevor attended SDS Budget Hearing.
Trevor attended Save the Loft Action Meeting.
and two articles he posted about gay rights, and two more articles he posted protesting violent law enforcement, and the list just goes on.
He doesn't drink, and he rides the bus or his bike, so he doesn't have to worry about getting a DUI, or hurting anyone in a car.
He dedicates his life and his time to bettering the world, to being involved in the community, to learning, to supporting individuals and the collective whole.
He is what I aspire to be like. He is incredible, responsible.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know, we as a species have decided that we are entitled to "rights". And we founded this country on this ethereal idea of a freedom that we are entitled to, as well as an idea of equality. If we truly believe in these ideas, we must also realize there is a breaking point between freedom and equality. I am starting to think we can't have both. There seems to be a point where selfishness just won't do, and we are far beyond that point, scale-wise. Because of the amount of people we share this world with, we don't have the same freedom or rights we had on a smaller scale. I believe we have collectively lost our individual rights because so many individuals have taken so much advantage of the "freedom" they are privileged to have, and because of that we deny it to others. One major illustration of this is the distribution of wealth in this country. That is unequal, and it doesn't represent collective freedom at all. So we have neither. We have revoked our combined freedom and equality because too many have too little, because too many (albeit, comparatively few, to the have-nots) have too much. I think that's what I meant by "individual liberty destroying collective liberty."
Just think about it... You will probably disagree, but I stand by it: we don't have the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want. Not anymore. And if we believe in the "core values" of this "country" then I would think we would want to do something about this in our own lives...
Well, this is what I believe, but I think I've realized I'm not going to convince you to change. So whats the point of writing in this blog then? I guess its part of my way of trying to make a difference. I think all we can do is try anyway.
Again, I am inviting comments, questions, rebuttal. Please. I know I have been fairly vague... But I don't have to be, so just let me know what you wanna hear/talk more about.
0 comments:
Post a Comment