Rawen's Musings

New year, same “world on fire”, same woof behind the screen, his digital parchment, working his digital quill to share the thoughts coming from the fuzzy brain cells. This time pondering on something that while amplified through social circles, the few insatnces I happen to stumble upon makes my inner alarms sound. What is it, you ask? It’s the dread of how short-sighted, self-centred and revenge-driven people are when it comes to pushing for a change. People are mad at how things are and rightfully so in so many cases. And yes, a cornered rat will bite ferociously in self-defence. But here’s the question I ask; have you spared at least one thought about all the people you’re affecting? Have you considered the idea that your desperate desire for change is not driven by everyone’s well-being but a selfish drive for revenge who hurt you? Confused? Well, dive in.

Those who know me more are aware that I’m a large proponent of positive motivation. Reason is quite simple; it’s much easier to learn and build when driven by curiosity rather than anxiety. This applies most on things you’re learning on your own or somebody is teaching you. The teacher should fuel your drive to imporve and expand by providing possibilities, guiding you towards your goals and offer support in moments of struggle. In essence, the teacher is responsible for the environment in which the student wants to thrive and grow.

Now, let’s apply this concept onto life and various leaders. So many times, especially during election periods, you see so many self-proclaimed “anti-system” parties (anti-system here is about as useful of an attribute as shit being smelly) who always scream “Against this!”, or “We’ll stop this madness!” etc. All this raises one question in my head: “All I hear is tear everything down. And then what? What do you want to create? What do you want to improve? How do you want to build things? Are ready and willing to take the responsibility to building a world that’s acceptable for everyone or at least a vast majority?” Answer? Either cricket noises, or some non-answer which wouldn’t work at anyone with one functioning brain cell, or me being branded a public enemy and “socially executed” for questioning the authority.

Sounds familiar? Because this is quite often the case for how these things happen in social spaces. It’s much easier to stumble upon much more radical approaches being pondered due to pseudonymity of the space (no, they’re not anynonymous) and relative safety (which also isn’t true). Often times you see so many people shouting for radical changes and supporting radical ideologies, all motivated by dissatisfaction and anger at the way things are. And I ask the same questions as above: “All I hear is tear everything down. And then what? What do you want to create? What do you want to improve? How do you want to build things? Are ready and willing to take the responsibility to building a world that’s acceptable for everyone or at least a vast majority?” More often than not my answer shows from how the person acts in general and in a worrying number of cases the answer would be no. Because they haven’t thought things this far. The people not directly supporting their cause don’t matter because they’re not fully with them. Sounds familiar?

To sum up the above with a quote:

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Spite is a strong motivator but also a cruel overlord. Handling it irresponsibly will bring more misery.

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Why such warning? Because your actions not only affect you and your group or tribe but also everyone else. When you incite a change on such scale, you’re putting yourself into the role of the “teacher”. And remember what I said in the beginning; as a teacher, you take responsibility for the environment in which your students are to thrive. Now ask yourself: “How will that environment feel if it’s build on fear? Am I actually trying to create something better? Or am I just mad at everything and want to burn things down, no matter the impact?” Now imagine the latter is true and it happens. You’re standing there, on a pile of smoldering rubble that was the previous world and you’re to build something new. Something to thrive in. But how are you going to do that? Who’s going to help you? What about those who have been with you so far? Are they still loyal to the cause or have they just used you to further their own goals? Your radical change concluded its first step. Do you know how to keep going or is that all? Keep all this in mind.

R.R.A.