I hear a lot of people say we have to wake people up... convince them of the urgency of this moment... make them realize that the planet is headed for disaster!
But I don't see it that way. Anybody who needs to be woken up at this point is so deeply asleep that they're not the target audience for global activism. We don't need to wake the sleeping so much as we need to harness the energy of those who are already awake. Enough people know we're in trouble; what they want to know is what to do about it.
We're living at a time when whole systems break down, calling for a whole systems response. It's not just outer change but also inner change that's called for. It's not just that this is wrong, or that that is wrong. The entire direction of human civilization is wrong, as we have placed economic principles before humanitarian values and in so doing have placed the very survival of the human race at risk.
Human civilization as we know it is like the Titanic headed for the iceberg, whether the iceberg be nuclear, environmental or terrorism-related. The probability vectors for the next twenty years are grim, and our job is to turn the probability vectors into possibility vectors... in other words, we have to turn this ship around.
In every advanced mammalian species that survives and thrives, a common anthropological characteristic is the fierce behavior of the adult female of the species when she senses a threat to her cubs. The lioness, the tigress and the mama bear are all examples. The fact that the adult human female is so relatively complacent before the collective threats to the young of our species bespeaks a lack of proactive intention for the human race to survive.
Yet how things have been has no inherent bearing on how things have to be, and I think we're living at a time when Western womanhood is just a moment away from emerging into the light of our collective possibility. Especially given the relative lack of power - even basic rights - given to millions of women in other parts of the world, we have a particular responsibility to speak up not only for ourselves but for them as well. And we are ready. Maybe not all of us; but enough of us. Western women should be a moral force on this planet. We should not be infantilized; we should not be pretending we don't know what's going on; we should not be giving in to the various and ubiquitous temptations to anesthetize ourselves. Quite the opposite, we should be taking the wheel of human civilization and saying to anyone who will listen: We're turning the ship around, and we're turning it around NOW.
One thing we should all be aware of is the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight goals signed on to by all 189 members of the United Nations in the year 2000. The goals are important because they speak to the underlying causes of so many of our most important problems, addressing them on a global level and giving everyone the chance to monitor how we're doing as a species.
The goals are a road map to cutting absolute poverty in half, improving health, getting children in school and reducing disease by 2015. When we think of "women's issues," we should be thinking of these issues. They should be our concern as the mothers of the world, the lovers of the world, and the leaders of the world.
Specifically, the goals are these:
1) Cut Extreme Poverty and Hunger in Half
2) Achieve Universal Primary Education
3) Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
4) Reduce Child Mortality by Two-Thirds
5) Cut Maternal Mortality by Three-Fourths
6) Halt and Reverse the Spread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB, and Other Diseases
7) Ensure Environmental Sustainability
8) Develop a Global Partnership for Development
We are five years away from 2015, the year we are supposed to achieve the Millennium Goals. We are making progress but not fast enough. We need an accelerated sense of urgency from our decision makers. And nothing would make that happen more effectively than for the women of America to learn this information, to take it to heart, and to refuse to shut up about it. No matter what else you're doing to make the world a better place, add a P.S. about The Millennium Goals.
Facts to consider: Putting a child in school is one of the most powerful things we can to do to reduce poverty. An educated child earns more later in life, knows how to keep their own children from dying, produces more food, is less likely to get AIDS, and in the case of boys, is less likely to engage in armed civil conflict. And we already know how to address the problems of AIDS, TB, and Malaria; we just need to do more of it via mechanisms like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.
So what can you do? You can call or write your Congresspeople (go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml) as well as the President, and tell them you want them to actively and substantially support the Millennium Development Goals. Remember: our Representatives get lobbied by wealthy corporations every hour of every day, but the poor of the world have no economic leverage. The only voice they have in the halls of power is yours.
And do more than that. Educate yourself. Look at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Use your own platform, or create one. Consider ways to help spread the word. http://www.results.org/ Use Facebook and Twitter and every other way you have of building a buzz about something that could matter to the lives - even the survival - of millions of people. And some of those people might someday be your own grandchildren.
Then, when it's all handled, when 17,000 children a day are no longer dying of hunger; when the ecosystems of the planet are well on their way to restoration; when nuclear bombs are scarce if not completely gone; when females of the world are no longer treated like chattel; and the nations of the world are beginning to achieve a real and lasting peace; then, we can celebrate. But until then, we should mourn. Anyone who's looking at the world and not grieving isn't conscious; but anyone who's looking at the world and not rejoicing in the possibilities for how we can turn all this around, is underestimating what human beings can do. We can learn to love each other. We can be conduits for the miraculous. We can stop playing small and start playing large. We can stop giving in to our weaknesses and start claiming our strengths. We can tell truth to power. We can act like we mean it. We can never, never, never give up. We can be the mothers and the fathers of a new and better world. And all of this is possible because human beings can decide. We can decide to say something. We can decide to write an email. We can decide to step up and participate. But we must decide now... not later. There is no more time to waste.
Follow Marianne Williamson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/marwilliamson
Earth changes will force the hand.
A wonderful article, thank you for being a voice and a spiritual teacher for so many, you are right about working with those who are already awakened. I think the most important thing men and women can do right now is to embrace the light, the understanding that we are all one on this planet and if we don't help everyone with all that we have, the future for the little one's will be far more difficult. I only wish you could get more media exposure, because what you have to say is far more important than anything being said today.
I have been very blessed to have you teach me how to pray at the Sophia Insistitute. I thought I knew how to pray until you showed us how to truly open up to the Divine. If you have no means at all, you can at least pray........I know some of what you saw in Kenya and it was the women who were doing the work, we have a long way to go, but such little time. Thank you for your tireless efforts and helping those who are awake to re-remember what it is we must do. There is a wonderful book called "Change we Must" by a native Hawaiian elder, who has since moved into the spiritual world. I think it is out of print, her name is Nana Veary, her message in that little book, speaks volumes........because indeed....Change we Must!
For the rest of us, let the healing begin. We must first knock down the walls we build within - to eliminate the "have and have not" mentality. I am not speaking from a socialistic POV but rather from a view point of "love and fear". If we give, we will have less does not meet the needs of the universe. If we give we get back ten-fold is more in line with reality but when reality is blocked by self-destructive walls, we can not see the beauty the world has to offer.
Equality for all is the goal, the MD is starting with the "least of us" and that is women and children. Marianne once told a story about a woman who lost her recording studio and how this woman was able to re-create it without much work. All we need to do is re-create the world the way it was always meant to be. The vibration is there - whether or not it gets stronger is up to those that are awake. Pick up the phone, make the calls, volunteer, get involved. It doesn't take much.
My issue with both left and right and center wing "activists" is they lobby the federal government to create special interest legislation that undermine the basic individual freedoms and liberty on which America is built.
How is lobbying for "department to end poverty" or "department of peace" any different than "bankers" lobbying for yet another loophole to keep unfair advantages in financial markets?
If I do not want to spend $100,000 to put a wheel chair lift in business then what right does the federal government have to make me? if I want to smoke pot? if I do not want to contribute to your poverty in foriegn lands project, why should I have to?
The only rights any and all American activists should be fighting for at this dangerous time in our history are individual rights.
Federal laws are a cess pool of inequality due to activists: native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Disabled Americans, Female Americans, HomoSexual Americans, Kanine Americans, government workers, military class, faith based organizations, environmentalists, green tech workers, blue tech workers, single mothers, single fathers, prision guards, prisions inamates, ex-convicts, retired Americans, illegal immigratns, legal immigrants, farm workers, auto workers, heatlh care workers, ...
American activists need to end the specialization of the federal government accross the board.
Want to get your rich neighbors in together and send $10 million to help poverty..be my guest..but it is not the role of the federal government
Alex
All those specifics! Truly inspiring!
Thank you for bringing this to our attention tonight at the Regent.
Our general air of malaise will never be overcome without steady action. I personally have decided to start playing large and mean it, because I do love and believe in the human potential to change our future. The links you provided are V-helpful. Namaste
Amen to that. I meet so many people who read all the books, magazines,and blog they need to know we are in trouble, but haven't taken the easy steps to be engaged to do something about it. The comment about "stop playing small and start playing large" sums up the reasons I got engaged with RESULTS. It's important to do the local food drives and send supplies to Haiti, but it's even more important to speak your mind directly to Congress to change the system on a larger scale. And the amazing part is that it's a lot actually _easier_ to be in partnership with others to influence Congress than to play on the small scale by yourself.
Thanks for a thought-provoking and important post.
So: check out RESULTS at: www.results.org
Go directly for an action: http://www.results.org/take_action/global_poverty_actions_and_news/
And as your theme in this post is the incredible (and currently mostly untapped) feminine power available that can turn the ship around, let's start by getting the President to speak up about meeting the Second and Third Millennium Development Goals. How can we empower women, if we won't make an education available to them? Currently, there are over 72 million children of primary-school age, who are not in school around the world. And yet, the President is not planning to speak about Education, and a Global Fund for Education (which he promised in 2008). Let's communicate with him through the White House, through our members of Congress, through the State Department, and through the Media. Speak out Mr. President! And get involved with RESULTS groups around the country doing so too.
The operative words for me: BECAUSE HUMAN BEINGS CAN DECIDE. What will we decide by our actions/inactions? My decision for tomorrow is to VOTE in the Michigan primary; then GOTV for the general election. My intention is to prove that the prevailing opinions of the political pundits underestimate the pulse of the American public re: the mid-term elections. Cede nothing to those who would have you stay home, depressed that you didn't get everything you thought you might in the last election. This is not McWorld...this undertaking will require every bit of patience, prayer and steadfastness that we can muster. May love prevail.