The last time I typed on this blog was this time last year about Thanksgiving in a Non-Stop World, I found myself hard to type above the masterpiece I wrote earlier, since the words written have held up very well to the day. I highly encourage you all to read it again since it holds timeless advice.
Being abroad and once again back in America for a brief time, it gives a unique perspective of looking at America from the outside like a foreigner, except you know the "why?" behind all the troubles/ills of the country. Foreigners ask why all these things happen in America, they cannot answer the questions that linger in their mind. If you ever been in a leadership position, looking from the outside into your own organization is quite an opportunity to assess that reveals things hidden while being too busy.
Anyhow, this world is quite broken. People dig at various problems thinking they've solved them without getting at the root of various problems plaguing the globe. It may seem like a cop out, but human nature is the root of many problems in this finite world we live in. Yes, humanity has 'progressed' on many fronts, but you have to wonder what really new has happened under the sun with humanity in the thousands of years of our existence on this blue dot in the universe.
There's still greed, selfishness, racism, war, murder, lying, adultery, envy, short-sighted, etc plaguing the world. We've become better at being bad, more efficient with developing new tools to manipulate each other. We're quite ignorant at looking at the cause and focus on the symptoms. The world is full of prejudice, it's not just in Ferguson, it's alive and well across the world. I've seen it with my own eyes across the continents, with my encounters with Turks, Germans, Austrians, Swiss, Japanese, etc.
It's something you couldn't fix with the Civil Rights Act of 1965, or the shedding of millions over 150 years ago in the Civil War. It's a war that Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi saw that no legislation could fix, but a war that had to be fought to change every hard heart of the peoples they lived amongst.
The world is sick because we're selfish and greedy, and we're out to marginalize anyone else that wishes to challenge the status quo. If humanity was truly progressive, we would have solved many of the ills in the world, but we continue to fan the fires in certain regions. You don't have to be an economics or geographic major to connect the dots of why things are way they are. Humanity is weak divided, selfish when existence threaten, and seldom concerned with event thousands of miles away.
The health of the nation is reflected through it's citizens, not it's leadership. The buck stops with each American and most Americans are failing with their duty of due diligence. With little ethics, morals, common sense, and the borderline Nationalism... the luck of America is that everyone else is fairing no better.
That's right, America is pretty damn lucky compared to a lot of places. When in Turkey, people complained that everyone was out against them. In Europe, people were unhappy with their situation in life. Even in Japan, the efficiency of the system only masks the problems underlying the country. China is beginning to feel the full suffering from the One Child Policy.
Everyone is complaining, life is full of unfair circumstances. That's the lesson of the world so far, everyone is suffering, things are different everywhere. Not everything is going according to plan. Copying someone else's success doesn't equate to success yourself. What is there to be thankful for when living seems to be a burden?
We can only approach the world one day at a time, grateful to be alive to make a small difference in this world. Being good stewards with what we have been entrusted with, nothing more, nothing less. We grow in responsibility because we strive to put in the great effort to be rewarded. The "Thank You!" or "Have a wonderful day!" from a complete stranger. It is the small things that keep us going when we slowly turn numb to the ills of the world.
Of course there is a lot of trivial things to enjoy a comfortable life... money, family, friends, a roof over one's head, food in no particular order. In a lot of place, quite a bit of that is missing. Thanksgiving is not only a period of self-reflection of what one is thankful for, but also to reflect and share in the spreading of Thanksgiving to others, giving that hope that humanity as a whole is better than what it is made out to be.
There are places in the world that are less fortunate than America. Some say we're barely making by, but that just means the best of us is barely making it. Is that why people flock from broken regions of the world to safer and more economic prosperous regions to seek fulfillment. People are fleeing broken systems to less broken ones.
Instead, America's commercialization of the holidays has made more even more ignorant of the world's ills by continuing to focus on the latest deals on things. We complain of slow internet, how bad the gridlock is, or some politician is evil and out to destroy America. Then there are the others out there dying to Ebola because medical infrastructure is destroyed, or how people fleeing a virtual war on drug cartels that is being fueled by another nation's demand for drugs, or weapons being funneled into unstable regions dominated by mob rule with no sight of peace.
That's the hypocrisy of humanity, that everyone is guilty of. I admit that when I think about my lot in life, I'm eternally grateful, but I feel shame that people cling to borders and fear as to withdraw help with so many others are suffering everyday. We're pretty selective of using the Golden Rule on a humanity level. What if that was us? What will we be everyday to the fellow man on the road Jericho? The travelers that didn't help the man or the Good Samaritan? Sometimes we cannot save ourselves, we need external assistance. On the individual level, that is through family and friends. With a society, that's organizations.
When you realize the magnitude of hopelessness of all the world's suffering, you ask why you can't help more? You'll realize we want to self-preserve what we have, since the sacrifice to assist is very great since everybody is suffering something.
I am definitely thankful for my current situation in life. My travels, which I am grateful to have the opportunity to conduct, has revealed much about the state of the world. America isn't perfect, but what separates it from everyone else in the world is that when the lights die out for hope is some other region of the world, we swing into action. However, these days, even that is getting reserved on doing.
All the ungratefulness and the thoughts of the impossibly are testing the faith of the times. Nothing is impossible, and while people being corrected might not be thankful today, they might later. We are ambassadors of Christ, we serve unconditionally, the first to spring in action and the last to pack our bags. We will be thoroughly tested, brought to the breaking edge, not just as individuals, but as the whole of humanity, not as a nation.
The leaders of the past in America said America was more as an idea rather a nation. Today, we're more as any other nation rather pursuing this lofty idea born hundreds of year ago. We do hoard it selfishly from others than in the past. We've corrupted it with preconditions. Some wait for another Civil War, others politically gridlock the nation, and the rest forgetting that real change always began at home rather in DC. Yes, I am critical towards America, but I am not without hope. I know people that have little to no hope in the nation, those are the people that are undermining the idea.
We are duty-bound to serve everyday, we are always under leadership of someone. Helping the least of us isn't for nation or for self, but for God. Man-made institutions are always falling short, and a giving heart is seemingly in short supply globally.
I am thankful to be alive, to see this world as it really is. Thankful enough that I have resources to help where I can, when I can. Doing big things is always snowballed by small things to make the difference in the world. Have faith and keep up the good work, I am not perfect and nor is the fellow man I am helping, whoever they are. Although as a whole, we lie, steal, cheat, and envy; showcasing the worse of us, at least we tried to show the best of who we can be in the short life we live.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
