What are you for?
“I will not invest any of my precious energy or time fighting or protesting against anything.”
Edward Phelps -
We must stop focusing on what we don’t want.
Instead we must do something much harder… decide together what we do want and what we stand for.
Instead of coming together and marching for what we DON’T want, we must unite and pursue what we do want.
You are conditioned to satisfy our individual wants and desires. You are encouraged to “live your best life.” You are constantly shown it is alright to do what you believe is right.
You are not taught or shown that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. In fact you are taught the opposite.
You are conditioned, in movie after movie (7 sequels), to believe Ethan Hunt is right to risk the safety and well-being of everyone on the planet to save one life, particularly the life of someone on his team who he knows and cares for. And a lot of you, millions in fact, believe this.
The idea of a group of us agreeing on a shared list of wants is not realistic.
That’s because it’s not possible to satisfy everyone’s wants and desires. What we want is both subjective and contextual. Meaning no two wants are the same, and what we want changes based on the circumstances we‘re dealing with at the time.
We’re taught to focus on prioritizing and satisfying our individual wants and desires. Which makes it hard to come together because our wants and desires are tied to our feelings - which constantly change.
What we’re NOT taught is to focus on our needs. Our needs are universal. The need for air, food, water, and shelter. The need for love. (Yes… love is a need.)
Our needs are not tied to our feelings - which constantly change. The secret is all of our needs can be met. We don’t have to compromise to meet our needs.
Decide what you stand for and I will stand with you (if I agree with it).
Mother Teresa said, “If you hold an anti-war rally, I shall not attend. But if you hold a PRO-PEACE rally, invite me.”
Fighting against a thing acknowledges that thing and grants it the power of your belief.
Standing and acting for a thing acknowledges that thing and focuses attention and energy into it.
Participating in a “No Kings” march says what you are against. But it doesn’t say what you are for.
And deciding specifically what you are for is a far more difficult decision to make.
Instead of saying you’re against Kings… tell me “what are you for?”
That is the important question of our time.
