Be an individual
As John F. Kennedy
warned, conformity is,
"the jailer of
freedom, and the enemy of growth."
Worry less about
fitting in with the rest of the world and march to the beat of
your conscience.
Learn your rights
We're losing our
freedoms for one simple reason: most of us don't know anything
about our freedoms. So grab a copy of the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights, study them, and stand up for your rights before
it's too late.
Speak truth to power
Don't be naive about
those in positions of authority.
People in power, more
often than not, abuse that power. To maintain our freedoms, this
will mean challenging government officials whenever they exceed
the bounds of their office.
Resist all things that numb you
Resist all things
that numb you, put you to sleep or help you "cope" with
so-called
reality.
As George Orwell
warned,
"Until they
become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after
they rebelled, they cannot become conscious."
It is these conscious
individuals who change the world for the better.
Don't let technology turn you into zombies
Techno-gadgets are
merely distractions from what's really going on in America and
around the world. As a result, we've become sleepwalkers.
If you're going to
make a difference in the world, you're going to have to pull the
ear-buds out, turn off
the cell phones and spend much less time
viewing screens.
Help others
We all have a calling
in life, and I believe it boils down to one thing:
You are here on
this planet to help other people.
None of us can exist
very long without help from others. If we're going to see any
positive change for freedom, then we must help one another.
That will mean
gaining the courage to stand up for the oppressed.
Give voice to moral outrage
As Martin Luther King
Jr. said,
"Our lives begin
to end the day we become silent about the things that
matter."
There is no shortage
of issues on which to take a stand.
For starters, why not
work to end,
homelessness, poverty, over-criminalization,
government corruption, police shootings of unarmed citizens,
SWAT team raids, warrantless surveillance and the nation's
endless wars abroad?
Cultivate spirituality, reject materialism and put people first
We must change our
values to reflect something more meaningful than technology,
materialism and politics.
Standing at the
pulpit of the Riverside Church in New York City in April 1967,
Martin Luther King Jr. urged his listeners:
[W]e as a nation
must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly
begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a
"person-oriented" society.
When machines and
computers, profit motive and property rights are considered
more important than people, the giant triplets of racism,
materialism, and militarism are incapable of being
conquered.
Pitch in and do your part to make the world a better place
Don't rely on someone
else to do the heavy lifting for you. Don't wait around for
someone else to fix what ails you, your community or nation.
As Gandhi urged:
"Be the change
you wish to see in the world."
Say no to war
Addressing the
graduates at Binghampton Central High School in 1968,
Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling
declared:
Too many wars are
fought almost as if by rote.
Too many wars are
fought out of sloganry, out of battle hymns, out of aged,
musty appeals to patriotism that went out with knighthood
and moats...
Do not accept the
shedding of blood as a natural function or a prescribed way
of history - even if history points this up by its
repetition...
Find another
means that does not come with the killing of your
fellow-man.
Finally, prepare yourselves for what lies ahead
The demons of our age
- some of whom disguise themselves as politicians - delight in
fomenting violence, sowing distrust and prejudice, and
persuading the public to support tyranny disguised as patriotism.
Overcoming the evils
of our age will require more than intellect and activism.
It
will require,
-
decency
-
morality
-
goodness
-
truth
-
toughness
As Serling concluded
in
his remarks to the graduating
class of 1968:
"Toughness is the
singular quality most required of you... we have left you a
world far more botched than the one that was left to us...
Part of your
challenge is to seek out truth, to come up with a point of
view not dictated to you by anyone, be he a congressman,
even a minister...
Are you tough
enough to take the divisiveness of this land of ours, the
fact that everything is polarized, black and white, this or
that, absolutely right or absolutely wrong?
This is one of
the challenges. Be prepared to seek out the middle ground...
If you must swing left or you must swing right - respect
the other side. Honor the motives that come from the other
side.
Argue, debate,
rebut - but don't close those wondrous minds of yours to
opposition. In their eyes, you're the opposition.
And ultimately...
ultimately, you end divisiveness by compromise.
And so long as
men walk and breathe, there must be compromise..."
