Societies develop and grow by virtue of the change that the human civilization in general goes through. For so long, we have been so apprehensive towards this "natural" process of change, out of fear that we might lose the essence of who we are.
We are an Arabic Islamic society, and we cherish that. It is deeply rooted in our being -and living- it scares us to ever give it away.
But we won't give it away.
We cannot give it away. Because it is who we are, any -positive- change regardless of how gruesome it is won't take that away from us.
The way I see it, the world was developing, growing, and changing while we were right here "stuck" fighting the change so we don't jeopardise our values, not realizing that by doing so we are losing the coherence of our -modern- culture.
It wasn't until recently that we started realizing that this attitude is not helping us anymore.
It wasn't until recently that we realized that the change is not bad, as long as we learn to incorporate our values and believes in it, for it to be a positive one.
So here we are today, with full consensus to positive change. We all want "a" change. However, what is creating this general state of confusion, this general negative wave of dissatisfaction, is that we remain divided on how to make this change, and towards what direction. The problem though does not lay in there, since change is not by any means linear nor it happens in one direction. The problem does not lay here because change could be so great an encompassing to all levels of our existence. The problem stems from our lack of self-awareness, and social awareness. We fail to recognize where do "I" as an element of this society interact with this Change Process. We fail to acknowledge the presence of different elements, different "I's", in this society that are, although different, interacting in hope of establishing the final functional equilibrium we all want.
This randomness,
this "ignorance" is creating confusion that translates into dissipated energy that leads nowhere on the spectrum of positive change.
Despite my personal distaste for "labels", and my rhetorical apprehension towards "gross generalizations" I find myself forced into categorizing us, as different elements of this society, into four general groups for the sake of simplicity. Although these groups might not contain the entirety of all of us, but it does give a "general pattern" to what we are.
***In my preceding description for each of the groups, I should point out that those are objective observations of which I claim no superiority nor virtue for one group over the other***
The first group is what I would call The Traditional Perceivers. They are the people who use a pre-handed one directional ruler that cuts through a black and white vision forgetting the countless shades of grey in between. This group would divide into two, the gatekeepers, and the namby-pambys. The Gatekeepers are the ones fearing the loss of our values the most, their prospect of change is that of the ways that would further emphasize our values and roots within this "wild" "fearlessly-growing" "modern" generation. Looking at it from where they see it, their reaction is totally justified. We are a generation that is introducing new concepts to a culture that was sleeping for so long we fight for individuality and eccentricity, we are a generation who wants to create, fight the norms and not simply conform. They are scared for us. They are scared that we would lose track of the real us and to eventually reject our legacy instead of perpetuating it. Their intentions are honest, but their perspectives and attitudes are way too tight, they end up fighting the wrong fights. The Namby-pamby are the ones who want and desire the change, but are too scared to follow through. They are too afraid to "fall off the wagon", too afraid to get out of the box, too afraid to be themselves, too afraid to not conform so they won't get rejected by God or by other elements of the society. They just take whatever is given to them and accept it too scared to make an alteration.
The second group is The Passivists, this is the group of people who do not contribute to change in anyway and help only in propagating waves of negativity and waves of apathy. This group is divided into two the negative passivers and the Lala-landers. The Negative Passivers are by far the worst. They are the ones holding themselves as pretty little prizes. They are the ones who never look at themselves but loudly and very destructively criticize everything else. They never bother making a change, all they do is sit around making negative judgements failing to judge themselves in the process. Forgetting that the first step to change is within us. The Lala-landers are the ones taking the most "selfish" approach to change. They simply fail to perceive themselves as part of a society that needs them just as much as they need it. They are the ones who simply don't care to whatever goes on around them as long as they are getting what they want and that life is working out well for them.
The third group would be the ones taking degenerative means to this change. Just like the other groups, this group is further subdivided into two the rejecters and the "YOLO"ers. The Rejecters would be the ones going for the change by radically throwing away everything we are instead of enhancing it. They are the ones letting go of their faiths, their countries, families and/or whatever they could be bound to and starting fresh without those bonds, simply because it is easier, less messy and hence more guaranteed. The "YOLO"ers... Oh well, they are just a group of random people thinking that having no greater purpose in life is so cool, or thinking that being -their type- of "cool" is cool. And that change is a change that would enable them to carry on with an existence of which they are not concerned with anything, but pleasure and fun. The saddest thing about them is that they most certainly chose the worst possible place to lead a YOLO life.
The fourth and last category is what I like to call The Activists. Those are people who work on various fields and directions to spread positivity and implement small, and sometimes big, acts in the society or on their respective fields of work. They could be subdivided into two the local celebrities and the self-aware. The Self-aware are every day people who recognize that change stems from within. And that by changing themselves and their close surroundings, hoping that their effect will add up to the effect of other self-aware individuals in the society, eventually they will see the world becoming the place they want it to be. The Local Celebs on the other hand are self-aware individuals who started a movement of some sort and got "famous" and known in our society for it. They are the people that we tend to forget the message they are propagating and focus on their flaws and their personal lives to put them at fault and discredit them. They are the people who with time, and continuous feedback from the rest of us, either forget their cause and become something completely different, or grow to become something more beautiful and more determined.
Now all of that being laid down, we surely know that our society has more and more divisions and more and more subdivisions.
How does this solve the problem?
It doesn't.
Knowing that helps putting a few things into perspective:
1- Change is happening, and it is inevitable.
2- We need to realize that change is never-ending. That change is a mean and can never be an end. That it is a method to grow, that it is something that will always be happening and that we should always be set to handle it.
3- We need to accept every single element in our society as an element, a person, an individual regardless of how degenerate or how utopic that element might be.
4- We need to understand that no matter how different we are, we are not each others enemy, because we all have the same goal to be most adaptable to change, and establish the best functional equilibrium for our society.
Now...
Think deeply into yourself, and try to assess "generally" in which group do you fit.
Acknowledge the presence of the other groups,
do not judge them,
understand their justifications.
Accept them.
Baby step #1
We are an Arabic Islamic society, and we cherish that. It is deeply rooted in our being -and living- it scares us to ever give it away.
But we won't give it away.
We cannot give it away. Because it is who we are, any -positive- change regardless of how gruesome it is won't take that away from us.
The way I see it, the world was developing, growing, and changing while we were right here "stuck" fighting the change so we don't jeopardise our values, not realizing that by doing so we are losing the coherence of our -modern- culture.
It wasn't until recently that we started realizing that this attitude is not helping us anymore.
It wasn't until recently that we realized that the change is not bad, as long as we learn to incorporate our values and believes in it, for it to be a positive one.
So here we are today, with full consensus to positive change. We all want "a" change. However, what is creating this general state of confusion, this general negative wave of dissatisfaction, is that we remain divided on how to make this change, and towards what direction. The problem though does not lay in there, since change is not by any means linear nor it happens in one direction. The problem does not lay here because change could be so great an encompassing to all levels of our existence. The problem stems from our lack of self-awareness, and social awareness. We fail to recognize where do "I" as an element of this society interact with this Change Process. We fail to acknowledge the presence of different elements, different "I's", in this society that are, although different, interacting in hope of establishing the final functional equilibrium we all want.
This randomness,
this "ignorance" is creating confusion that translates into dissipated energy that leads nowhere on the spectrum of positive change.
Despite my personal distaste for "labels", and my rhetorical apprehension towards "gross generalizations" I find myself forced into categorizing us, as different elements of this society, into four general groups for the sake of simplicity. Although these groups might not contain the entirety of all of us, but it does give a "general pattern" to what we are.
***In my preceding description for each of the groups, I should point out that those are objective observations of which I claim no superiority nor virtue for one group over the other***
The first group is what I would call The Traditional Perceivers. They are the people who use a pre-handed one directional ruler that cuts through a black and white vision forgetting the countless shades of grey in between. This group would divide into two, the gatekeepers, and the namby-pambys. The Gatekeepers are the ones fearing the loss of our values the most, their prospect of change is that of the ways that would further emphasize our values and roots within this "wild" "fearlessly-growing" "modern" generation. Looking at it from where they see it, their reaction is totally justified. We are a generation that is introducing new concepts to a culture that was sleeping for so long we fight for individuality and eccentricity, we are a generation who wants to create, fight the norms and not simply conform. They are scared for us. They are scared that we would lose track of the real us and to eventually reject our legacy instead of perpetuating it. Their intentions are honest, but their perspectives and attitudes are way too tight, they end up fighting the wrong fights. The Namby-pamby are the ones who want and desire the change, but are too scared to follow through. They are too afraid to "fall off the wagon", too afraid to get out of the box, too afraid to be themselves, too afraid to not conform so they won't get rejected by God or by other elements of the society. They just take whatever is given to them and accept it too scared to make an alteration.
The second group is The Passivists, this is the group of people who do not contribute to change in anyway and help only in propagating waves of negativity and waves of apathy. This group is divided into two the negative passivers and the Lala-landers. The Negative Passivers are by far the worst. They are the ones holding themselves as pretty little prizes. They are the ones who never look at themselves but loudly and very destructively criticize everything else. They never bother making a change, all they do is sit around making negative judgements failing to judge themselves in the process. Forgetting that the first step to change is within us. The Lala-landers are the ones taking the most "selfish" approach to change. They simply fail to perceive themselves as part of a society that needs them just as much as they need it. They are the ones who simply don't care to whatever goes on around them as long as they are getting what they want and that life is working out well for them.
The third group would be the ones taking degenerative means to this change. Just like the other groups, this group is further subdivided into two the rejecters and the "YOLO"ers. The Rejecters would be the ones going for the change by radically throwing away everything we are instead of enhancing it. They are the ones letting go of their faiths, their countries, families and/or whatever they could be bound to and starting fresh without those bonds, simply because it is easier, less messy and hence more guaranteed. The "YOLO"ers... Oh well, they are just a group of random people thinking that having no greater purpose in life is so cool, or thinking that being -their type- of "cool" is cool. And that change is a change that would enable them to carry on with an existence of which they are not concerned with anything, but pleasure and fun. The saddest thing about them is that they most certainly chose the worst possible place to lead a YOLO life.
The fourth and last category is what I like to call The Activists. Those are people who work on various fields and directions to spread positivity and implement small, and sometimes big, acts in the society or on their respective fields of work. They could be subdivided into two the local celebrities and the self-aware. The Self-aware are every day people who recognize that change stems from within. And that by changing themselves and their close surroundings, hoping that their effect will add up to the effect of other self-aware individuals in the society, eventually they will see the world becoming the place they want it to be. The Local Celebs on the other hand are self-aware individuals who started a movement of some sort and got "famous" and known in our society for it. They are the people that we tend to forget the message they are propagating and focus on their flaws and their personal lives to put them at fault and discredit them. They are the people who with time, and continuous feedback from the rest of us, either forget their cause and become something completely different, or grow to become something more beautiful and more determined.
Now all of that being laid down, we surely know that our society has more and more divisions and more and more subdivisions.
How does this solve the problem?
It doesn't.
Knowing that helps putting a few things into perspective:
1- Change is happening, and it is inevitable.
2- We need to realize that change is never-ending. That change is a mean and can never be an end. That it is a method to grow, that it is something that will always be happening and that we should always be set to handle it.
3- We need to accept every single element in our society as an element, a person, an individual regardless of how degenerate or how utopic that element might be.
4- We need to understand that no matter how different we are, we are not each others enemy, because we all have the same goal to be most adaptable to change, and establish the best functional equilibrium for our society.
Now...
Think deeply into yourself, and try to assess "generally" in which group do you fit.
Acknowledge the presence of the other groups,
do not judge them,
understand their justifications.
Accept them.
Baby step #1
Comments
Post a Comment