“Be the Change you wish to see in the world”
Mahatma Gandhi
I have watched as countless Americans sit back and voice their outrage over the Nations economic recession, or dire need for healthcare reform but I have yet to find anyone who had the courage to try and make a change. Our parents sat back while their youth passed away, and in their old age they sit there frustrated, bitter and scorn towards the government for taking our Nation the route that it did. Mahatma Gandhi may be one of the most influential men to ever impact a nation like he had done in India. Through non-violence, Gandhi was able to liberate an entire nation from the oppressive rule of Great Britain. Egypt had just undergone one of the greatest and most elaborate overthrows the world has ever seen, a revolution that all started from a program as simple as Facebook. These precedents placed before us prove that it is possible to achieve reformation and change through the most unlikely of avenues. All it takes is the ambition and willingness to usher it in!
When I am old and my children are thinking about having children of their own, I do not want to sit back and voice idle remarks about how things need to change when I have done nothing to change it! I would rather go down with lessons learned from trying then to ponder on what ifs of not trying at all. Gandhi said it correct, we must be the change we wish to see in the world. We cannot rely on other people to take action when we clearly see a need for action to be taken. Imagine what would have happened if Gandhi had never acted upon the need of a voice and leader to rebel against Britain, there is no guarantee that India would have turned out the way it has today. I refuse to be a senior citizen that sits and complains of social security, and the poor economic situation that my generation has left my children and grandchildren in.
With college tuition spiking at seemingly an all time high, and the job market and economic stimulus at an all time low, we are left with a recipe for calamity. We as Americans not only face grave danger but as an entire Generation we are confronted with a serious threat! For the continuity of our legacy and lively hood hangs somewhere between the plausible realities of both a great depression and a bright vibrant future full of potential! A pendulum that reserves the right at any given moment to sway in either direction. Is the legacy we wish to leave for our children and grandchildren one of depression, poverty and hunger? Because I refuse to leave a legacy of such turmoil for my descendants, therefore arising the need for reform, a deviation from our current system of running things.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.”
Albert Einstein
Our law makers, politicians and Americans are foolish if they believe that change is able to come about by merely doing nothing. It is the same perpetual cycle with no deviation from routine. Every four years we watch Presidential hopefuls travel and tour the country promising change and reformation, while they are mere demagogues seeking only to further their own career. They are charismatic leaders who manipulate the emotions of their people to gain power. And when they have gained enough influence and public approval they take office, but unlike their campaign which took them all over the country their term in office is shrouded with cloaks and daggers which seem to create the illusion of an Immortal President. A President that is no longer in touch and on the same playing field as every other American. Being President is a job that by no stretch of the imagination could I understand the pressure and responsibility involved. But the quandary does not lay blame with the President as much as it does the system in which he dwells in. Because if the President of the United States is our hand picked leader, chosen not only to defend our freedoms but represent us when we are unable to do so ourselves, then who will listen and care for us when he is too busy to do just that? Who will voice the concerns and cares of the people to congress and senate when the President is unable to do if for us?
What many people fail to realize is that the true strength and power of the United States Government is not the Air Force, nor the Army but its citizens. What is the responsibility and role of a power or leader with no one to govern or lead? Our founding fathers have left us with a democracy, not a monarch nor dictatorship. But what our democracy has come to in this current time is a mere shell of its true nature. I believe that in order to ever expect anything to change we must first understand it is our right to have a say in government and our future! Not a mere show of a mandatory satisfaction of the law, or as many call it a presidential election. Because we must be involved in the progression and evolution of our Nation everyday of every year, not 6 months every 4 years. And we must participate in our own reformation process not 1 day in November every four years but everyday! We must WRITE for our Voice; it is our God given Write to Reform! And may every word written or spoken move not only mountains but statues and monuments for the cause of expansion, progression and change for a brighter tomorrow!
