Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Change is Inevitable

We are a generation given over to delusions.

Our American society has had to give up on several lifestyles valued as cultural mandates for proper behaviour.

We had an early obsession about race and the superiority of one over another and so we accepted slavery and incorporated it into our daily living as a normal way to treat those of a different colored skin. It became an industry with business as usual. It has been phased out and is illegal. Society frowns upon it.

We had an early obsession with tobacco, and are smoking still today, but with major concessions to the needs of others to breathe without our fumes invading their spaces. It became an industry with business as usual. It has been phased out of restaurants, bars, catering halls, theaters, planes, offices, etc. The many addicted have become the lonely few hanging outside in any kind of weather to puff themselves into black lung oblivian. Society frowns upon it.

We had an early obsession with gender and the romantic assignment of the roles attached to each. Females were not allowed to vote. Here's an interesting quote, "Realism was in many respects an effort to revive masculine virtues in the face of declining virility." David E. Shi from Facing Facts: Realism in American Thought and Culture. Men never could stand being caught in the web of circumstances.

Mindless routines, given little thought about their consequences, kept us hypnotized with mass complacency. Someone had to wake up and tell us we needed to wear seatbelts!

As is obvious, from the above examples, change will occur in many more arenas we are a part of willingly or not. I would love to see all slaughterhouses closed down and society live as healthy vegans respecting the ideology of ahimsa and a reverence for all life. Many think I'm asking too much of us. I would , however, like to think it will come to pass. Changes have occurred before. Sometimes it takes a long, long time.
Wake up. Vow to be a zombie no more.
Take control of your life today.

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