Recent Events and Personal Responsibility

I do not enjoy writing anything that may be construed as political, but we live in an age when everything falls under one political context or another. If my view points are narrow or short-sighted, I would be happy to be better informed.

Beyond the borders of nationality, ethnicity, religion — we as a human race eventually have to realize that we all breath the same air, walk the same earth, drink the same water — we all look up at the same sky at night and see the same constellations that our human ancestors have looked to for millions of years … we are all the same people despite the color of our skin, the style of our religion or spiritual path, the design of our clothes.

We are all so small, despite the size of our egos, despite the size of our material wealth, despite our physical strength, worldly accomplishments or titles and ranks that we bestow upon ourselves.

I have been reading in the news about the protests to stop the Olympic torch on its journey to Beijing. I find it extremely sad — a testament to the human race’s impatience, aggression, violent tendencies and mob mentality.

As a whole, we all quickly judge situations as good or bad as long as the mob we want to fit into agrees with our opinion.

It’s a sad testament to the evolution of all mankind when we continually turn to violence to resolve political disagreements, social disagreements, any disagreements.

Reading history books on the fall of the Roman Empire, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the fall of Soviet communism and other socio-political upheavals — we understand that throughout history, corrupt political regimes cannot stand the test of time and need to be defeated; that any government that uses violence, fear, aggression and propaganda to subdue and control it’s population is destined to failure.

We also understand though, the toll that war and violence has on a people, on nations, on the human race — in terms of the negative energy it generates, the law of karma — we know and understand that anger and violence will create negativity that lingers on generations that follow — which will lead to more violence in the future.

We have to stop identifying ourselves with ideas — the idea that one side is good vs. the other side which is bad. The idea that we are right while the other side is wrong.

Ultimately, the governments and corporations that do business with China need to be accountable for supporting the actions of the Communist government in China.

As consumers, we the people are responsible too for the choices we make and the businesses we patronize.

If we want to see a free and independent Tibet, it’s not as simple as going out into the streets rioting and attacking symbols like the Olympic torch.

People have to own up to their personal responsibilities — stop buying products manufactured in China. Stop buying products that exploit Chinese factory workers, that support the Chinese government.

You cannot ask for a free Tibet while you are investing in business opportunities in China that fund the Chinese military and government. It’s a matter of personal responsibility, governments listen to the angst of the businesses on Wall Street, not to riots and violence by gangs and mobs.