Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Year's Dare 2011


I dare us all, just for one day, to turn off our televisions. Maybe even drop offline. For the entire day. Just stop watching and listening to the drivel and dreck. See if we can survive. Walk out the front door, see what the stoop or porch, or stupid porch, looks like. Get to know somebody in real time, in real space.
Imagine if this was the last year we had to prepare our hearts, minds, and spirits for a battle over the fate of our planet, and think about how we'd go about making those preparations.
Think about making a solemn oath to oppose tyranny where ever we meet it -- whether petty tyranny in the workplace, the tyranny of a bully in a public place, the tyranny of our own flabby lifestyle over those sweatshop coolies who slave for beans to keep our "good times" rolling, or even the great tyranny of national and international oppression. There is no surer path to heaven, no greater growth, no better preparation for slaying the dragons of the unknowable than to oppose tyranny without stooping to its level. (If you don't believe it, revisit those movies you think you love: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Gandhi, Alice In Wonderland. See what they all have in common.)
It's down to us. Rise to reflect the light, or be assimilated by the forces of entropy and apathy. Affirm life, or negate it. But choose a side and get ready.
Tune out from the wavelength of the greatest common denominator -- the lowest frequency -- for one day and see where it leads us. If we don't like it, we can always plop back down on our sofas and hoist the remote controls again.

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