http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/21/justice/pennsylvania-disabled-chained/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
A 20 year old woman who was beaten, starved and locked in a basement by her aunt for 10 years is suing the city of Philadelphia, claiming her ordeal could have been avoided if officials did their jobs properly.
A story such as this one accentuates what is so desperately lacking in our global community - the ability and will to care for people and things other than ourselves. The abusive aunt would never have treated her niece - let alone any being - that way if she actually stopped and considered how she would feel if someone did that to her. The people who allowed the child to be placed in an abusive home would not have settled for the easiest option which would allow them to go home early and indulge themselves if they actually cared.
We make these little choices, all throughout our day: "me or the world?" Every time we are faced with a choice, we have chosen "me", as is evidenced by the state of our planet and all the life living here. The media is encouraging this lifestyle, slowly and quietly feeding us morsels of "me-ness" - essentially saying that it's ok to act selfishly, it's perfectly natural, normal and justifiable since everybody is selfish - therefore no one expects you not to be.
Everywhere you go, every person you see - we are all constantly justifying to ourselves why it's ok to live the way we do and accept the world around us. As we get older, it becomes less and less necessary to convince ourselves that our actions are justifiable, that we really have done enough within our life to be able to say that we live a life of honour, dignity and compassion. As we grow older our justifications become completely integrated into our very being, so that that is who we are. "I am happy with myself and my life because I lived the dream and have a beautiful family." " I am absolutely right to care about what others think of me as that is the measure to which I judge myself." "I am right to turn from violence and abuse, if I stop paying attention to it, it will go away." "God has laid the path down for me, I am simply a humble follower of His Divine Will."
We teach our children our own ways of thinking and self justifications and now they have the added bonus of the media spewing justifications out at every turn. Take a good look at our society: what is it that majority people really care about? What they see on TV and in magazines and what they hear on the radio. Our media is a clear reflection of the society we'd like to become: completely shallow and superficial where everyone is a superhero, skinny (or well muscled), no one needs to shit or piss, everyone has a tiny dog that never pees or poo's, everyone is amazingly attractive, everyone is unusually intelligent, everyone can fire a gun really well.....
It is no easy task to stop the way we have lived our entire lives - but it is very possible and attainable for each of us. The first step we must take is to educate ourselves as to how we have been taught to live up until now, so that we will be able to recognise where within ourselves we are living that programming and then stop living it. The world is a reflection of who we are, so in order for us to change the world we must first change ourselves: we must choose to live in a way that honours all life and not just our own.
Investigate an Equal Money System as the new reflection of humanity that actually cares for, respects and honours ALL life.
A 20 year old woman who was beaten, starved and locked in a basement by her aunt for 10 years is suing the city of Philadelphia, claiming her ordeal could have been avoided if officials did their jobs properly.
A story such as this one accentuates what is so desperately lacking in our global community - the ability and will to care for people and things other than ourselves. The abusive aunt would never have treated her niece - let alone any being - that way if she actually stopped and considered how she would feel if someone did that to her. The people who allowed the child to be placed in an abusive home would not have settled for the easiest option which would allow them to go home early and indulge themselves if they actually cared.We make these little choices, all throughout our day: "me or the world?" Every time we are faced with a choice, we have chosen "me", as is evidenced by the state of our planet and all the life living here. The media is encouraging this lifestyle, slowly and quietly feeding us morsels of "me-ness" - essentially saying that it's ok to act selfishly, it's perfectly natural, normal and justifiable since everybody is selfish - therefore no one expects you not to be.
Everywhere you go, every person you see - we are all constantly justifying to ourselves why it's ok to live the way we do and accept the world around us. As we get older, it becomes less and less necessary to convince ourselves that our actions are justifiable, that we really have done enough within our life to be able to say that we live a life of honour, dignity and compassion. As we grow older our justifications become completely integrated into our very being, so that that is who we are. "I am happy with myself and my life because I lived the dream and have a beautiful family." " I am absolutely right to care about what others think of me as that is the measure to which I judge myself." "I am right to turn from violence and abuse, if I stop paying attention to it, it will go away." "God has laid the path down for me, I am simply a humble follower of His Divine Will."
We teach our children our own ways of thinking and self justifications and now they have the added bonus of the media spewing justifications out at every turn. Take a good look at our society: what is it that majority people really care about? What they see on TV and in magazines and what they hear on the radio. Our media is a clear reflection of the society we'd like to become: completely shallow and superficial where everyone is a superhero, skinny (or well muscled), no one needs to shit or piss, everyone has a tiny dog that never pees or poo's, everyone is amazingly attractive, everyone is unusually intelligent, everyone can fire a gun really well.....
It is no easy task to stop the way we have lived our entire lives - but it is very possible and attainable for each of us. The first step we must take is to educate ourselves as to how we have been taught to live up until now, so that we will be able to recognise where within ourselves we are living that programming and then stop living it. The world is a reflection of who we are, so in order for us to change the world we must first change ourselves: we must choose to live in a way that honours all life and not just our own.
Investigate an Equal Money System as the new reflection of humanity that actually cares for, respects and honours ALL life.
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