Everything's Weird Until You Get Used to It

Many mothers and fathers can remember a time when one of their children opened a door of understanding for them.

Fifteen years ago, my son Isaac did me that service. A budding saxophonist, he is now studying jazz at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. But back in 1993, he was just a little boy, explaining how he coped with changes in life.

"Everything is weird until you get used to it," he told me. Immediately, I knew what he meant. Today's change is tomorrow's standard operating procedure. Weirdness is to be expected. But it won't last.

Why is this relevant?

Because change is essential to save our planet. And we need to get over our resistance to the "weirdness" of doing things differently.

Nuclear weapons are that ugly problem that few people want to discuss. Most of us know these weapons are intended to destroy cities and kill ordinary people and their families. We know nuclear weapons are a disaster waiting to happen -- whether through aggression or simply because of human error. Yet, we turn our attention elsewhere.

Isaac's wisdom can help us here. We may feel strange telling the president what we want him or her to do. But once we get started, the weirdness will disappear and we can concentrate on the inspiring goal of making the world safer for our children and grandchildren.

Here's a way to start. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is gathering the support of one million people for a national Appeal calling for US Leadership for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World. We will give the million-strong Appeal to the next US President on Inauguration Day 2009.

Walter Cronkite, Daniel Ellsberg, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Susan Sarandon, Mary Travers, Noel (Paul) Stookey and Ben Cohen (founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream) are with us. Can we count on your support as well? Just go to www.wagingpeace.org and sign on.

To change the world, we must change our own lives. We must change our behavior. And doing that can feel weird.

Until we get used to it, of course. Then, it will just feel good. Very good indeed.

Comments

[Markham]

The weird thing is that we have lived with for so long. The thing that is missed in this discussion about nuclear weapons is that it is the easiest problem to resolve. Global Warming, pandemics, over population are doomsday threats that will take considerable money, effort and time to handle. Nuclear weapons are physical entities that given the resolve can be dismantled and destroyed in a relative short period of time. And, the monies they will release in dollars, and euros will go along way to dealing with the other issues as well as with issues of education, police, heath insurance, etc.

So lets deal with what in front of us and doable.

[DeSwiss]

Excellant article. And I can relate. Only with my son, my lesson was that I should have stuck with the plastic flute instead of buying the real sax. But that's another story.

And that's not the only "weird" things we need to start doing. Getting back control of our own energy sources (and our future) without poisoning ourselves in the process with nuclear waste, is one of the main ones. And we can put people back to work in the process. And to do that, we need leaders who aren't so set upon the survival of the existing paradigm. Maybe then we'd be less likely to go around even considering such idiocies as "limited nuclear wars."

Because doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome is lunacy as you know. And the only good thing about that so far, is that we do it over and over again well. Now we just need to change that, and then keep going....

:-)