Start making a difference, one person at a time
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I wish you all a healthy and happy New Year.
Yet, if merely wishing were horses I’d have a stable full. You have to help yourself to achieve what it takes to be healthy or receive help from others.
If living through the last two years with COVID has not shown you what is important in your lives, and attitudes, I suppose nothing will. Too many people are still moaning and groaning about the disruptions the pandemic has caused them personally and not the fact that so many people have died or those who will suffer the aftereffects for the rest of their lives, or those who have had no income for two years.
Have you thought about them or tried to help? Physically doing something or giving up something to help them? Everyone says they want world peace but to achieve that it begins with you, personally. Time to look deep down inside of yourself and every member of the family to make sure you are not adding to the problems.
Do you complain all the time? Gossip? Waste your life on alcohol or drugs? Pay more attention to sports or fashion than your family or neighbours? Did you realize that life is not about you? It is about everyone on this planet working together.
Look around you, all the terrible things happening around the world have happened many times before. Since time began civilizations slowly evolved, helping each other just to survive. As our crops began to flourish, trade began and century-by-century nations formed and grew in population and strength.
About 400-500 hundred years ago an exodus began from Europe due to the terrible conditions which developed from wars, epidemics, and persecution in power-grabbing societies. People gave up everything to come to Canada and start again. Like Tillsonburg’s founder, George Tillson, who came here almost 200 years ago and eked out a living on the land just trying to stay alive – with strangers helping strangers. Slowly business and trading expanded, and everyone began to prosper. But they were not greedy, only charging a ‘fair’ price for their goods, not exploiting their neighbours’ needs.
Today, it is all about wanting more money for power or things to show off how good you are compared to others. It is at this stage that most civilizations began to crumble and it can quickly end up with everyone trying to survive.
A World Economic Forum talk by Prof. Ian Morris of Stanford notes, “Five factors have almost invariably been involved in the loss of civilizations: uncontrollable population movements; new epidemic diseases; failing states leading to increased warfare; collapse of trade routes leading to famine; and climate change. Each one of these overlaps the other and causing war, famine, disease, and climate change. All five were present with the collapse of Roman, Grecian, Mayan, and other civilisations.
Other civilizations survived, because they had good leadership, able to keep stable economic growth and they contained violence from escalating when times got bad.”
As a civilization crumbles, immorality of all types takes over society. Let’s name a few: perversion of good and evil or right and wrong; corruption, wantonness, and lewdness (profanity, vulgarity, lecherousness); being unjust, dishonourable, perverse, and simply plain wicked. Don’t forget slavery, known here as ‘sex trafficking.’
Most Canadians have had it good for so long. Hardship is having no food, let alone toilet paper. Not having a job. No electricity would devastate us. What did you go without in this pandemic? Any of those?
Perhaps it is time this New Year, instead of making one little resolution, to take a good look at life around us and what can we do to stop the spiral we are in. First, put things right working on yourself and then together with your family so you can achieve the ‘healthy and happy’ New Year. Then put it right with your friends and neighbours, helping and encouraging each other.
Start making a difference, one person at a time. If you don’t, no one else will.
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