This statement - “I am not a citizen of the world. I think the entire concept is intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous!” – is hard to grasp. What is most frightening (and maybe comforting in some weird way) is that it seem to be a populistic way to flirt with the elitisic far right wing.
What I have never understood from these types of statements is what they are trying to accomplish by them. I know what, but still not. They really mostly seem silly, sensational populistic with such little intellectual substance that it sometimes gives me the chills. Most of the time it just seems as some strange attempt of fishing for votes in a desperate way. The stereotypical padding on the good ol’ boys backs with cigars in their mouths. Silly really.
Anyhow.
You’re right, Mr Newt Gingrich. You’re not a citizen of this world. We are, you’re not… Oh, I almost forgot. You’re wrong, global citizens are not intellectual nonsense, but your statement is. :-)
Commitments. Hmm. The root of so many worries for people. The one who claim they are not are lying. They challenge us. They keep us grounded. They provide sanity checks. Yet. When do you let go of a commitment? I think this is many ways is the struggle between the heart and the brain. Or is it? Shouldn’t the heart and brain be the same? Or is the brain and heart, the Ying and Yang of the body keeping each of the parts sane in a complex dance of the quest for fulfillment, endorphins and happiness? Who knows. I guess that is the charm of life. You do not know.
Commitments and the relation to them show the character in people. They really do. Yet I do believe we tend to cling to them. I had a discussion some time back with some friends on commitments over a few glasses of wines. The crowd was pretty diverse as for ethnicity, race, religion and social economy. It was indeed a very interesting discussion. My main point during the discussion was: “You will only keep commitments your heart truly believes in.” it has taken me a lot of time to admit this to myself. If i believe in something, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for the sake of the commitment.
Yet.
When you stop believing in something and you constantly have to justify it and your relation to the commitment, it is time to let go. The commitment is long gone, and it is hurting you more than it is helping you. Yet so many people choose to commit to the commitment. Clinging on to it. I, for long time in my life, tried to stay with commitments I had in my own “almighty” (note the irony) mind painted up as the true solutions of life. Hmm hubris for sure. :-) “These are the pillars by which I will live. I will never break these rules.” Hmm. Boy, did that bite me in the ass. All the time. I have learnt that when I say I will never do something, I immediately have to face that statement.
I do not know why we (including me) do cling to commitments. Maybe it is some false and weird safety. The usual. Stay with the known. Facing change is hard. Facing change and breath of fresh air in yourself is troubling to so many. It has been troubling to me. Probably still am to some extent. I would be lying if I wouldn’t say that. Yet I think I am growing up here. :-) A very dear friend some time ago asked me to do something. My answer was simply: “No, I will not because I do not believe in it.”
Commitments give us structure. We need structure. Yep, we do. I would say that commitments are creations of our brains, and will be used as guides on our road in life. Yet they are only the guides and milestones of our lives, but they do not make us up. They are not the path we should take. They as we will evolve and change over time. They are not everlasting commandments. Believing that is a lie to yourself and others, and I have seen too many people suffer due to the over belief in commitments. Out-dated commitments create a structure that doesn’t exists. It is not there, other than in our minds and probably more damaging than good.
Yet I do believe we should be guided by our heart as well as our brain, but we shouldn’t try to justify things that only part of us believe in. If we are not in it with our hearts, it is not true to us. It is not true to anyone else either. We should be driven by compassion for others as well as ourselves. Clinging to outdated commitments is far from compassionate to you, nor is it to others.
A friend of mine expressed it so well: “The heart is the brain because they are both on a path towards compassion for others.”
Imagine what the world would be with more compassion.
I read an article about the arrest of the well-known US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi. She has been reporting for the BBC, NPR and many other news organizations. Currently there is a petition launched in Facebook for her release. Arrests such as this are truly damaging to the freedom of speech on the long term. Especially since the world becomes increasingly more flat. The borders – geographical, political, ethnical, cultural and religious – are eroding and constantly fading and soon I would claim they are almost non-existing. Ok, well not really. But they should!
We are living in a global society. A global community. The issues we have to tackle are predominantly global, multifaceted unique, and very challenging. They have to be solved and understood by us all, together as one society. During this time of a complete transition of our world, the news media industry is decreasing their international reporting and media staff by to this date around 50%. In my eyes, we are witnessing a very dangerous development from a societal growth perspective as the need for news coverage is increasingly more important here. Events as the one mentioned above is just going to emphasize this development.
The issue or probably better put challenge with freedom of speech is to be able to listen. To be open enough to really hear the other person’s perspective. It is about challenging yourself to hear the other side. To challenge yourself to realize that you are but only a part of the global community. It is a tough ride but… It is about accepting the advanced global citizenship. It is to think about your effect of the world and how you can make it a better place. We have to do this together since there are way too many regimes, as well as “normal” selfish and ignorant people.
Being in full control is something I have done very well and successful in my life. Most of the time it is more about choosing the battles you take, distance yourself and take that extra walk around the block in your head. Yet it seems like some yet very few people just have the ability to touch you beyond your boundaries. It is realizing that the defense is gone. It is both comforting and somewhat frightening realizing it. Yet. “It is all about trust…” She is so right. It is all about trust.
Letting go of the protective guard is something that is really hard and usually stressful. It is about loosing that control and putting the trust in another person. It can be refreshing. It can be unique. It certainly can be rewarding and peaceful. I think I let that final guard down and met the eyes. The weird thing is that I am calm and genuinely peaceful. I probably shouldn’t be. Or maybe I should be.
Regardless. Weird. Strange. And yes. Very peaceful and comforting.
I met up with a friend the other night and ended up in a discussion about compassion, good and evil. I have never believed there is such a thing as the absolute good or the absolute evil or absolute truth for that matter. The quest of finding the absolute good, evil or truth actually prevents us from moving forward. You usually get caught in a blaming game of who did what and why. After all what really matters is the change. The constant transition towards something “better”, what ever better means.
Anyhow, I have been struck about how many people get stuck in comments such as “he/she did that, so I will not do that”. We justify our lack of compassion, understanding and course of actions by the nature of the acts of the other person. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. Isn’t it better to change the situation instead of arguing about why we came to it? It has some relevance, but ultimately not. Often this is really the ultimate reason why do not reach out. We are stuck in the blaming game. It sure is easier and more comfortable to stay there, as you never have to address you part of the issues.
The same friend reminded me on how easy, natural and deep compassion is. It really is an instinct. You know that the automatic response of a mother when a car stops is to stop you from going over the road by reaching out their hand in front of you. Or when you hurt yourself, your hand automatically goes to that wound. We know how to do it if recognize it. It really is that simple, yet we fail miserable frequently.
Don’t believe it? Think of how many people ran towards the World Trade Center 9/11. When we do not put logic on top of our actions and act with our heart we fear nothing and our instinct is to help others.
I do not remember where I heard this quote, but it is so true – It is an act of compassion not to be overcome.
I just found the original video of Donnie Markos “Mad World”. Besides being such an amazing video, it reminds me of the innocence of playing children. When we grow up it is so easy to loose that playfulness, innocence and curiosity. I believe we need to preserve those characteristics more and remember to preserve those characteristics as we grow. Life is too short. Life is to precious. Life is also only one. We better make the best out of the life we have.
A lot of the challenges we face these days are directly related to narrow minds and somewhat illogical preconceptions about what we believe is right. The world is grayer than ever, and the borders are really non-existing these days. Yet it seems as if we believe the world to be black and white, not to mention that we have preconceptions based on ancient rules and thoughts. It is convenient. Ok, it is very convenient. Productive? Hmm. No. Certainly not.
I heard this story about a prison guard on NPR where there were two black women jailed for fighting for their cilvil rights. I do not remember when unfortunately or the link to the story. The essence in the story, however, is the prison guard taking his three years old son to prison and roughly quoted now: “Remember, son, I told you that only evil people are jailed. You see these two women. They are jailed because they fight for what they believe is right and for change. They are willing to fight for others, who cannot fight for them own, and, pay the price for this fight. Always remember that.”
This is what we need more of. We need more people realizing that we are shaped in our preconceptions very early on, and that when they are set, they are set. Teaching an old dog to sit?! Well I would say good luck there! We gotta “get” to them when they are young.
I was having a conversation with a dear friend the other day about times of transitions and change. On Tuesday the first Black president of the United States of America – a certain Obama – will enter his office. He is facing challenges the world have not seen before – a financial world in total chaos (even though slightly more stable now), a global environmental issue (in particular global warming) and a war on terror that creates more terror than it stops.
Many people around the world put their faith in Obama to solve all those issues single-handed just by entering the office. I believe that to be a bit absurd. Sure. The world is in desperate need for a new leader of the caliber of Churchill and Roosevelt, who have the ability to lead the world in this uncertain time.
I am not sure that will be enough though this time. The world has changed too much.
What is important now is to realize that we as a global community need to start facing these challenges. We have to gain that focus and commit on making this world change. it is absolutely necessary. It will be challenging to all of us as we will have to face ourselves more than ever. Yet it will be an adventurous travel out of our comfort zone. The tumbling ride the Wonderland rabbit hole.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day marking the birthday of reverend Martin Luther King Jr. We currently live in a time where we are still judged by our pasts, our religion, our ethnicity, our color, our beliefs and so much else. I believe it is so important for us to remember his mission and beliefs because they are universal, human, so important and the only sustainable path towards the future.
We need to understand that we are, but only one. We are all the same. Only then will we understand how to solve our issues we at hand. The issues we now face are global and will effect us all. The butterfly effect have never been more present or powerful. We are all connected one way or the other. We are all connected.
We should have come further. We have not. Now let us come further together.
I think one of the biggest challenges in life is to handle true, deep and sincere love. It is delicate. It is genuine. It is so fragile. It is just there. Overwhelming. Comforting. Inescapable. It is like giving your heart a silver plate to the other person, and putting the complete trust that the person would not betray that trust. Putting that ultimate hope in the other person, and not really caring about yourself. Yet I do believe I know of a bigger challenge. The “worst” or “biggest” challenge is really when you are not “allowed” or “prevented” to share love. When circumstances play together in an intricate dance around you preventing you from obliging to the love. It is the Romeo and Juliet story. Handling unanswered love is easy. Handling answered non-allowed love is The Challenge.
I do believe that we constantly face these challenges in various shapes, and that many just do not dare this leap. Personally this intimidating leap in many ways terrifies me. It is about loosing all control. It is to fully realize that you need to trust the other person to be gentle and honor as well as recognize the offering. That leap of faith is the tough one.
I have come to the conclusion that even if you want to. You cannot “escape” people who are “your north, your south, your east, your west, your working week, your Sunday rest, your noon, your midnight, your talk, your song…” I am not sure you should escape, but the path is a tough one. The Toughest.
December 7th 1941. A day never to be forgotten. The military strike against Pearl Harbor that probably change the outcome of World War II as it resulted in the US to join forces against the axis of evil. It’s ironic, sad, funny and tragic how “small” or unrelated things and decisions will make a huge difference. The love affair between two men in ancient Greece created a war and legends never forgotten. The shot in Sarajevo started World War I. Small symbolic events started the massive erosion of the Soviet Union. We are yet to see what the effects of Mumbai will be, but I am in some way dreading them. The most scary example still is 9/11. The effects and impacts of those tragic events will last generations to come I am afraid. I still wonder if the outcome would have been different if things would have been different…
I know. It doesn’t matter. It is what it is. Burying ourselves in the past will not make a difference. Today this world needs people with dedication, passion and hope that the future will be woven by understanding, collaboration and peace. Now the ultimate irony. We cannot today decide what the future will be. It will be what it will be. We but only can live our lives in the present in the way we would like the future to be.
Our lives are built up by a series of decisions. Interacting. Entangled with others. Taken in a flash of a moment. The difference is just so small. We need to start paying attention to that. “Even enemies can show each other respect…” I think it is time for us all to start showing sincere respect for our “enemies” and anyone else we have disagreements with.
Let us also take this day to remember all the ones who have fallen for freedom, hope and independence around the world. I will let a short clip from the amazing movie Schindler’s list tell this story. We need more people as him. I know the controversy of what he did but in fact he did act. We need more people to act. Today. Not tomorrow. Not the day after. The actions are necessary now.