It has repeatedly been said that if we’re concerned over how
we are governed, our perpetual wars, our lack of gun control, our capitalistic
ways, our cultural ways, our politics, police tactics, and the decline of our
freedoms, and want things to change, collectively we have the power to bring
those changes to fruition.
In 1776, way before anyone else, Thomas Paine said in his publication, "Common Sense" “We Have It in Our Power to Begin the World over Again” He conveys that a better America and world can only happen through the actions of people, not government, and for change to occur it requires new ways of thinking.
Certainly, the message has been unequivocal.
Abraham Lincoln: “. . . government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Mahatma Gandhi: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. We need not wait to see what others do.”
President Ronald Reagan: “For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.”
President Barack Obama: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Former Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders: “Real change never takes place from the top down, or in the living rooms of wealthy campaign contributors. It always occurs from the bottom on up – when tens of millions of people say, “enough is enough” and become engaged.”
Robert F. Kennedy once said, "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
A new way of thinking involves getting rid of the excuses of why we cannot, and developing ideas of how we can. Individually we cannot take actions that will have an affect nationally or internationally. However, collectively our actions, words, and ideas can change the world. Because change only happens when we ask ourselves “why not,” not by saying we cannot.
Noam Chomsky said it best, “If you act like there is no possibility of change for the better, you guarantee that there will be no change for the better. The choice is ours, the choice is yours.”
Copyright © 2016 Horatio Green
