our obsession with "The Revolution"

Our Obsession with
"The Revolution"

We all want revolution. We all want to change the world, or the country into the way we think it should be. We want to make it better. We want to do away with all the evils once and for all to create a community that functions the way it was intended to. We want to stop polluting our homeland. We want to stop social injustice...

The problem is that, no matter how hard we try, we can't make any body do anything. The only person i can really ever change is myself, and i can barely do that. And i can merely hope that by living the way i live, that i can inspire others to see what i believe to be the truth, and to do the same.

We need to be so careful. I see so many people- with good hearts- great hopes and dreams- beautiful intentions- becoming bitter and frustrated because, though many are turning to bicycles and gardening and fair trade and sustainability, the fact is, many aren't. We feel the point isn't getting across. We can't keep people from drinking Starbucks, or driving SUVs or voting for so-and-so. There is a lot of anger and hatred building up in the hearts of people who started out fighting against those very things.

The reason we became anarchists is because we don't agree with the way the country is run, and we don't want someone dictating who we are supposed to be, how we're supposed to dress, how we're supposed to teach our children, etc. But we anarchists are becoming guilty of the same things we accuse the System of. When we get the mindset that everybody should live the way we want them to- shop, dress, vote, eat, etc. where and how we think they should, we are actually more communists than anarchists.

Anarchy by definition is the absence of hierarchy. This implies that we are all equal. We all have individual jobs which are equally important to the community. We all have the right to voice our opinion and make choices based on what we believe is right. It is King Arthur's Round Table rather than the Ladder of Success. True anarchy does not mean throwing rocks at Starbucks windows or stealing from corporations or taking over the country by force to make it the way we want it to be. The true anarchist respects the (God given) rights of every human being, whether i agree with them or not.

What starts out as a beautiful vision turns into massacre, simply because we want something so much, that we decide to take it by force. Che Guevara's revolution began with compassion. His life changed when he saw the beauty and pain of individuals and truly loved them. But eventually the dream of Revolution blurred his vision, and he eventually lost sight of the Love, and spent the last of his days serving Communism. When it's all about the Movement, we forget about what's really important- the people.

The genocides in Rwanda and Uganda were preceded by people wanting revolution. The hatred and racism grew until immense amounts of innocent people were mercilessly slaughtered. Do you think you are immune to this? We are all capable. Murderers don't grow up planning to be murderers. One moment of anger and rage can cause you to make one mistake that will change your and anothers life forever.

Love is the only thing that can change anything. "Revolution" can only happen one person at a time. It is so important to remember this, because, without love, we become blinded by the movement, and our good intentions so easily turn to evil. Without love, we can do nothing that's worth doing- nothing.

In my obsession with pirates, i may playfully swing around a machete or schimotar, but in truth i am a pacifist (in the way that i believe in non violence). I believe in taking action by stepping back- refusing to take part in what i believe to be wrong, while respecting the choices of others, even if i disagree. Let us be pirates, outlaws in the ocean of the world. But let our booty be the friends we make along the way~ the people we help save from a joyless life of meaningless. And let our weapon be Compassion, for that is the one tool we have in this world. It is the one thing that can fight for people and the one thing that can free people. When the time, the movement, the revolution, the government all falls away, all that we will have left is each other.

the lighthouse band university

The Lighthouse Band University

Seeing how most of us have been out of school for a long time, a lot of us (members of the lighthouse band) have started to feel the need to excercise our brains again- to learn again. With a bit of plotting and scheming, we came up with the idea for the "Lighthouse Band University". We decided that each of us would research a topic, and we would take turns teaching once a week, holed up in someone's home (it being winter and all).

So last night was our first LHU session. It was very exciting! I opened with a class on medicinal herbs and their uses. It was very simple, perfect for the first time. We met at Heidi's house, ate snacks and chatted (plotted and schemed) for a while, then went thru the lesson, discussed it, and chatted and snacked some more. I think next week Danny is going to teach a class on Romania.

This is very exciting for us all, because, since most of us aren't in college or anything, this gives us an opportunity to learn all we can, and it's more motivating to learn with a community rather than alone. Also, we all have different strengths, and we can teach what we're good at, and share those things with our friends. And if there's something we really want to learn, we can research it and give a class on it. We can all help each other to learn & understand. Each person has something to give, and something to recieve (true anarchy!).

Some topics we are planning on researching are history of different countries, garbage & fast food & the effect of wastefulness, social studies & justice & the oppression of different peoples, physics, geology of the earth before & after the Flood, different arts & crafts, languages, and so on...

This is something anyone can do! You can start your own university in your own community of friends! Maybe we can share tips and ideas...