Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Very Unlemming-like

By B. Stuart Noll All Rights Reserved
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As the author of a blog entitled "A Positive Thought" you would think that all views here go along with conventional wisdom on positive thinking. Well, do not even positive thinkers have the right to dissent when what they see seems to be leading the masses over the next cliff? Or should I simply encourage the masses to keep running at break neck speed while I simply excuse myself for a moment and step out of the stampede? As a believer of "being the change" I want to see, I am taking the latter step with a very gentle nudge to the lemming next to me!

(Photo by Deborah Phillips-Noll)
My question is simple. How much death and destruction do I have to participate in before I realize I am part of the problem. When will I step outside of my comfort zone and become part of the answer? the answer for me is when I choose to become aware enough to change the only thing I can change - ME!

I can choose to be apathetic about education, our system of government, the environment, health care or any number of the gabillion causes that would help us improve the world in which we live. We can all act like lemmings thinking the one in front of us is going in the right direction or we can wake up, begin to think for ourselves (of course that would require a collectively conscious thought process which may be foreign to many) and say enough is enough.

I believe, that if we are to survive as a species, as a planet and as community of connected energy we must step out of the race precipitated by greed. We must begin to think about more than ourselves. Can we only survive if we pollute the earth we live on, send our offspring to die then bring them home to a life of neglect and near poverty? Will we continue to perpetuate the sale of pesticides that kill the bees that pollinate the food we eat and expect to make it to tomorrow? Can we expect to focus more on what we want and less on what we really need without some reprisal from natural law?

I cannot answer these questions and the many others that present themselves to us daily for anyone else but me. I may have had no choice how I got into the stampede toward the edge of the cliff; I only know that I choose to take a different path to my eternal existence and it isn't running up the butt of the guy in front of my when he sees the edge.

There is plenty in this world I cannot control. But I did choose to stop watching senseless TV. I did decide not to support greedy athletes and owners who took a sport played for fun and recreation and turned into another outlet for greedy ambition. I decided to stop agreeing with those corporate entities who didn't have the best interests of their customers and their employees when tough decisions needed to be made. I stopped thinking that it was all right lie to our sons and daughters for political gain. I began to choose peace over war and I decided that if I had to fight for what I believed I would know the consequence of my actions and be willing to pay the price for them should I be wrong.

So my friends, I say that today is a good day. It is a day when I decide for myself how I want to live my life and to recognize what life means to me and to the communities of people in which I live. I may be thinking out loud, but I am acting inside and I am living without regret for today!

May peace be with you always!

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