You see, when you declare a war against anything, a few things happen. Immediately, you leave the party you are warring against no option but to war back! As soon as you declare a war, you are declaring that you are prepared for conflict and in many cases for violence.
As soon as you declare or announce, fight, argue, demonstrate, against anything or anyone; you leave them no other option but to dig their heels in and fight, demonstrate, argue, and use violence back against whoever is declaring war on them.
Have you ever decided to stand up against your mother-in-law only to find out what it feels like to have an on going war for the next 30 years of your marriage? Ever declared war on your fat belly, only to find that your body goes into a fat preservation lock down. Making it impossible not only to lose weight, but every time you so much as look at a cheesecake, you put on 2kg’s? The fight against anything, generally just makes the “anything” defensive, stronger and resolute.
That’s why I like to stand for, to march in support of, and to champion a positive cause. You see I have always believed that a war is based on the outdated belief system that We Are Right. As soon as you say ‘we are right’ you automatically make someone else wrong. Don’t you just love it when people tell you that you are wrong?
If you are not a married man, then perhaps this concept will be foreign to you but it will become abundantly clear the moment you say, “I do!” You, my friend, will never be right again. PS… If a married man is alone in the jungle and he says something, is he still wrong?
When one group says we are right and another group says we are right you will have a “We Are Right” – WAR.
Let’s say, hypothetically, a group of people made an incorrect decision. We are using the word “incorrect” here to describe a decision that was made which no longer serves them, (there really is no right or wrong, there is only what serves us and what doesn’t serve us based on what we all want) and they elected someone whose conduct is no longer in their interests. And let’s also hypothetically say that there was another group who made a different decision and who are now shouting from the rooftops, “we are right, and we told you so!” Isn’t it nice when you’ve made a mistake; to have a whole bunch of people telling you, “I told you so, I was right, you are wrong!”? Doesn’t that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Doesn’t that just want to make you do a 180° turnaround and walk hand in hand with them to their new destiny that they have for you? I don’t think so.
So instead of standing against someone and chanting that they must fall, or that they are wrong, perhaps we should act for governance and accountability. Instead of warring against corruption perhaps we should set-up, build, and fund institutions or people who stand for honesty and integrity, people who will hold accountable those who are not.
If I demonstrate and act for kindness, love, peace, diversity, accountability, honour, trust, and integrity who can possibly stand against that? I would rather support a good cause than create a war against a bad one.
If half a million people around our beautiful country all march for a country that must rise and be strong, who can possibly challenge that? When you want somebody to fall, you can rest assured that the “someone” will fight back and make sure that he doesn’t fall.
Instead of fighting a war against drugs, perhaps we should champion a cause that changes the minds and emotions of people who feel they need to take the drugs in the first place. Instead of a war against poverty, let’s stand for entrepreneurship and education. Instead of wars against homosexuality or homophobia let’s stand up for tolerance education.
You see, I really don’t want to stand against you; I just want to stand for something that can help you.
Instead of standing against corruption and the squandering of taxes, rather stand up for paying your taxes into a central account where the funds are released and monitored to actually reach the service delivery workers or the needy. That’s something I could get behind.
Instead of wanting someone else to fall, I would rather want someone else to rise in that place. Instead of standing against junk food, perhaps we could stand for a healthy diet and lifestyle. I would much rather get busy building something better than trying to destroy something that is broken.
The more we focus on bringing somebody else down; the more time we spend focusing on what our opposition, our competitors, our ex-lovers, are doing; the more we take our focus off our own lives, our purposes, our skills and our passion. When you focus on, and put out kindness, love and possibilities you will be amazed at the reaction you will get. What you put out will come back to you. It’s just the way it is! As you sow …
This country is full of people who are far smarter than I am. There are people who care more, know more and who are more creative than I am, and there is a good chance that you are reading this right now. YOU, yes You, are the person who can, will, and must step forward and creatively, cleverly and with love, help build an exciting future.
I will keep on trying to bring love, light and laughter to our people getting them to care, to see, to do, and to have fun. What will you do?
We shouldn’t try and bring about change by waging wars against things; we definitely don’t need any more “wars”.
We can only do this by focusing on what is good, on our goods (that which is good in us and that which we are good at) and doing good deeds, by building something new and true.
Have a great month,
