Anything less than this is more of the same
In Australia where I write this it is already Tuesday, November 3rd. In our country, which has just recorded a day of zero community transmission of COVID, followed by a day with one transmission in the entire country, we usually get all heated up about a horse race, The Melbourne Cup. It’s a day to get dressed up in silly costumes and drink too much, to take a punt on something that most people have no idea about. Like everything in 2020, a different Melbourne Cup. No spectators on the race track in Melbourne, but still lunches and glamour around a country that is largely back to business as usual. Other than international travel, life is pretty normal.
I have travelled to the USA over 50 times in my life. I lived in Bloomington Indiana for a while, and California.
When I first arrived in LA, aged 23 years, on day one I was hit with this very visceral feeling that I was watching the modern-day equivalent of the fall of the Roman Empire.
Empires do not fall overnight, but all empires do fall.
In my many travels to the USA I was often asked why I spoke such excellent English. It is the only language, sadly, I have ever spoken. I found the lack of global geopolitical awareness alarming, as Aussies love to travel, and even my local newspaper reported on world news. The level of American ignorance of the world, combined with the real sense of exceptionalism, was terrifying.
What happens in this election does not just affect American Citizens, it affects the entire world.
How we respond to the greatest threat we all face, global warming, as a primary reason.
How we treat the marginalised, the poor, the disenfranchised, people of difference, this is also up for challenge. When we normalise hate, when we endorse violence, when we amp up tracks of discrimination and racism in a country of the population and economic size of the USA, it, like a virus, becomes super contagious. When we step over lies, lies, lies, broken promises, more lies, when we roll over to the endless lies because it is exhausting and numbing, we have lost to the powers that profit from our silence.
When we accept journalism and media that profits from spreading lies, when we never challenge our news feeds, we become the victims of the greatest propaganda machine ever created, then what we get is what we deserve.
Democracy is built on citizen engagement, active citizen engagement.
We the people. Voting. Peaceful protest. Engagement.
To believe that we are powerless is to have lost.
Begin. Act. Do so with integrity as the foundation, in all things. Respect. Love. Towards a future for Earth and all her creatures. A win-win, infinite game.
Anything less than this is more of the same.
Photo taken November 3rd 2020
