Fred Ecks ([info]fredx) wrote,
@ 2007-03-26 17:08:00
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That helpless feeling
I've found myself feeling helpless sometimes as I hear the news lately. Recent developments in international relations don't look good. In particular, it's the petropolitics that get me worrying. When I see Iran's strong stance against the US and EU, Iraq's civil war, and resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, I feel helpless to curb the increasing violence in our world.

I stewed on it a little more, and felt better knowing that I am trying to do my part. I think the most important vote is the one we make with our actions. It's essential to live our financial lives in alignment with our values. If we stand for peace and a sustainable environment, we have to live our own lives with that in mind. I think one big way to accomplish this is to buy only what we will really enjoy to the fullest, and to use it to its end. It seems like the big impacts can be found in flying as little as possible, driving an older fuel-efficient vehicle (or better yet, walking, cycling, and taking transit), not reproducing, and focusing on social interaction over buying "stuff".

I do try. I sometimes wonder when I've bought some new widget, what the person in the factory in the developing world thought as they made the widget. It's downright freaky how we all seem to live like kings and queens in this culture, yet it's never enough...

Flights to far-flung destinations for the weekend enable dictators in oil-rich nations. If we can find our satisfaction locally and frugally, there's enough for everyone.

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Helpless?
(Anonymous)
2007-03-27 05:16 pm UTC (link)
Perhaps if you weren't promoting the fallacy that other people can, and should be, controlled by your wishes, you would not fail in your endeavors.

Everything you fear, will come to pass, if for no other reason than your participation in the political process will ensure that the most destructive rise to power. It is a downward spiral, where both "sides" demand more active "leaders" to save them. It is a classic divide and conquer maneuver, and exactly the method which brought Hitler to power.

Empowering criminals is never a solution to any problem. It just creates tomorrow's.

And that my friend, is the trap that creates the helpless feeling.

You do not own me, therefore you have no right to empower criminals to agress against me. It isn't too late Fred, even you have the power to free yourself. It only takes something you are used to delegating to others, your choice.

www.regenerationx.org

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Re: Helpless?
[info]annqueue
2007-03-28 04:38 am UTC (link)
I thought Fred's point was that he has freed himself, as much as is possible in our interdependent society. And that he's doing what he can to not empower the oil criminals. Through his own choices. If there's anyone I know who doesn't delegate his own choices, it's Fred.

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Re: Helpless?
[info]fredx
2007-03-29 11:58 pm UTC (link)
Uhhh, yeah...

Please read my post again. It's ironic that you directed me toward a libertarian website in response to my statement about aligning personal finances with values. While I most certainly am not a libertarian, this viewpoint matches the libertarian ideology. I said nothing about participating in the political process (which as a big fan of democracy, I do!). Yet somehow you made a leap from my own choice to live simply to the claim that I'm empowering criminals to agress against you. Huh?

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[info]moneyrani
2007-03-27 09:44 pm UTC (link)
I believe you do all but one on this list:
http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2006/12/18/what-can-one-person-really-do-to-make/

For me, I've found that worrying doesn't help anything. So since most media causes me to be anxious, I actively avoid it. Additionally I put my money where I can feel comfortable...like bicycling clubs or a cause I believe in.

I do wonder about traveling though...to places that would require a plane. In addition to the sheer hassle involved with getting on a plane, the amount of oil used by one plane flight it is HUGE! So far my best solution has been a bicycle...but what about getting across the pond? A boat would make me very ill.

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[info]fredx
2007-03-30 12:17 am UTC (link)
Wow, thanks for the compliment. I'm not quite that good, but I do try, and I think we all grow through discussion of how to make the world a better place.

I agree about worrying; it only makes me anxious, too. I stopped watching TV over 20 years ago, and now when I see the "news" being aired somewhere, it only appears comically dramatized. I do listen to NPR, but I have to keep it within limits to avoid the anxiety over world events in recent years. I mostly get my news online, and again only within limits. When I hear about things like the Iraq war, I need to remind myself that I didn't do this. I marched against the war repeatedly before it broke out. I've resisted with my votes, income taxes, petitions, and personal finances. It's tragic, and yes, I do what I can about it while remaining a happy person.

Regarding travel, when I worked in a large environmental organization, a big hot button with me was the amount of jet travel done by the activists. In doing my work, I flew all over the place. As I grew more ashamed of my behavior, I eventually left the organization (for a variety of reasons). Since then, I think I've only flown once, and that was for another organization. Especially in the massive wave of fear gripping the country, it's been very pleasant not to fly. Oh, and it saves money, and saves the planet, and ... :-) The downside is that Greyhound seats get pretty hard after a few hours!

I think travel is no different from any other area of consumption. If we'll truly enjoy it in proportion to its expense (financial, emotional, environmental, etc.), then we should do it. For me, the trick has been to make trips longer. I generally won't fly somewhere for a weekend. Yet I'd certainly fly internationally for a longer experience. But that's me; what works for you is what works for you.

Thanks for jumping in!

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I think the most important vote is the one we make with our actions.
(Anonymous)
2007-03-29 03:46 pm UTC (link)
Yes!
Thank you for writing this.
I lived at Dancing Rabbit (see Moneyrani's link) for 5 years. Now that I'm living in the "outside world" I still do all I can to live simply and sustainably and I can tell you I feel like a real weirdo in this culture where those I see around me seem so oblivious. (Peace stickers on the back of SUV's make me kinda light-headed, for one example.)

Anyway, it's great to read voices of sanity!
Susan

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Re: I think the most important vote is the one we make with our actions.
[info]fredx
2007-03-30 12:34 am UTC (link)
Heheh, a kindred spirit!

I couldn't agree more; it's as if massive numbers of folks are sleeping away their precious lives, taking thousands of entire species with them. I know it's not so simple, that each of those lives has its own reasons for being what it is, but from the outside it sure can appear oblivious.

I came to the conclusion years ago that the most powerful tool in activism is a big contented smile. We have to be the change we wish to see in the world, and we have to love our lives. Nobody changes their behavior because some angry activist beat them over the head. I speak from experience -- I was one of the oblivious folks! What worked for me was learning that organic food tastes a lot better, and discovering that walking and bicycling have me out watching the chirping birds rather than somebody's tailpipe, and finding that if I live simply, I can avoid a life sentence in a cubicle. It all snowballed, and I didn't have to act for "greater good" in these choices. In improving my own life, my fitness level improved, I ate better, my finances got easy, my stress level dropped, and I found my smile. And then I woke up one day to discover that these choices all contribute toward a better world. That's pretty darn cool.

But it sure is tough when everyone around us is immersed in the latest TV "news"!

Thanks -- it's nice to meet others out there on this same road less traveled...

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(Anonymous)
2007-07-05 06:57 pm UTC (link)
Just read an interesting article conveying why Americans find themselves so impotent regarding political process.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb07/Zingh13.htm

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