So why is it that we keep trying to solve the problems of the world with Duck Tape?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein
We don’t live a healthy lifestyle and end up overweight. So we go on a diet, and lose weight. Does this fix the problem? The simple answer is NO. It is a temporary fix at best. Unless we change the habits that caused the problem in the first place, we will ultimately just end up gaining the weight back again … until the NEXT diet. This is no great revelation. It is obvious if one just stops and thinks for a bit.
So again, why do we keep trying to “fix” major issues with Duck Tape, and expect that will be the end of it?
Responding to violence with violence does not END the violence.
Throwing money at the poor does not END poverty. Nor does donating food END hunger.
Creating more laws does not prevent those willing to break the laws from breaking the new laws.
Fanning the flames of patriotism does not promote open hearts.
Calling a hater a hater does not REMOVE the hate.
In the US right now, there is major upheaval as the current regime is about to end. This administration worked hard for CHANGE, which many fought tooth and nail simply because it is change. The whole system has been flawed from the start, and is in practicality now fully broken. So what do we try to do to fix it? Duck tape. We try to patch the surface bits and pieces, hoping that will somehow fix the whole machine. And then wonder why it keeps breaking again. The really sad thing is this is not unique to the US. The world as a whole keeps trying to do the same thing.
So what is the solution?
Instead of just dieting, we need to change our whole lifestyle.
It really comes down to a matter of how we look at the world. We need to change how we think, and not just shout these beliefs for others to hear, while secretly ignoring them in our own lives. The path of the world can be determined by each of us answering a simple question … which is more important, things or life itself? Our world is governed by the concept that material wealth defines personal value, and the more we have, the “better” we are as people. Every label we create, every group we place another in, stems from this concept that WE are somehow better than THEM, because we somehow live a “better” life … mainly because we have better, or more, THINGS. So it really simplifies to this … do you believe in the law of compassion, or in the law of personal wealth? Compassion allows for difference. Compassion places value on life, ALL life, and does not label another somehow less than us simply because they are different. Or do you prefer the concept that the one with the most toys wins? That way sees life as just another resource to be exploited … and is by definition focused on the few instead of the many, pitting us against each other until the few remain standing on the pile of bodies left behind. So you tell me … which way seems the better path for humanity?
Maybe we should try compassion for a change.
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Yes, to every point you make here! I particularly like the way you point out that trying to “fix” problems doesn’t work and the analogy with dieting and lifestyle is apt. I loved: “Calling a hater a hater does not REMOVE the hate.” Absolutely!
It was interesting to read your perspective of the USA’s approach to this and the resistance to change. In some ways, in the UK it looks as if we’ve had a lot of change lately, but your point about valuing personal wealth over compassion makes it very easy to see the change is largely superficial. I think it’s coming though, and around the world. I am involved a number of groups both on and off-line where people are choosing a more holistic approach to “success.”
It’s so easy though, to sometimes be seduced by the idea that unless you achieve at the level of “things” that you aren’t succeeding in life. I was falling for that story this morning and your post is a good reminder that life does not really care how many things we have, or even how much we’ve done. It’s only the mind that cares about that.
Glad I stopped by to read this, it’s been open in my browser since you posted in the group!
It is truly refreshing to know that one’s words actually resonate with someomeone! Thank YOU for reading, and the kind response!