Hard Road to the Good Life

Every once and while I read something that truly moves me, something that makes me say, "I wish I could write like that". During a recent visit to Matthew Good's blog, I encountered such a gem; a statement so profound that it made me want to print it on a t-shirt so that everyone could better understand the way I feel.

The cold hard truth of everything that I am is this: I'm in love with truth. A life of ignorance and misinformation isn't good enough for me, I need to know the real story. I like learning about the worst parts of this world, because only then can I understand how to bring out the good.

The media has become such a powerful force in our time that it is literally shaping the way people are. Does that scare you? Think how terrible it is that so many people are walking around with opinions and attitudes that were nearly completely generated by their televisions, the radio, the internet, or some other form of information appropriate for mass consumption. Worse yet, the better part of information we recieve from the media has been spun or altered in some way, the 'whole' truth stripped out.

With this intro, I'd like to share with you the writings of Matthew Good, an incredibly talented musician and activist. I love this quote.

I’ve nothing to say today that hasn’t been said more than once in the past. All one need do is scan the pages of the world’s newspapers to realize we’re on the brink of something, that this is a time to choose to either make your voice heard or bury your head in the sand. What will I tell my children when they are old enough to understand the importance of this global fight, of this crucial time in our shared history? That their parents willfully chose to remain ignorant and silent when they could have involved themselves and lent their voices to a growing global choir demanding justice and accountability for more than just themselves? I cannot, in good conscience, live with being guilty of such irresponsibility. Because this isn’t just about one war, or one reckless government, or the exploitation of one country and its people. This is about the path that we, as citizens of free nations, must work to alter. This is about becoming more than votes within a system, more than a marginal voice in a landscape of apathy and easily disregarded public discontent. This is about ensuring that we are not so easily bemused, not so ignorant that we don’t know the difference between manipulation and information. We must work to reclaim the dignity of those practices that have been stolen and sullied by corporate interests and the greed of those who profit from our continued degradation. This is about taking responsibility for the actions of our governments, not claiming ourselves innocent of their crimes because we lacked the courage to forcibly confront them.

We have reached a crucial point of decision. Do we raise our children in a world in which we continue to be regarded as peons that represent little more than means to political ends, or do we raise them in a world in which people actively embrace the realization that the status quo is something that must always be challenged and questioned? For if not by us, then who? If not now, then when?

Easy isn’t for the free. Easy is for the willfully confined. So how easy do you want it?

For the record, I don't want it easy at all. I want a world where every child has reason to smile. I want a world where people are willing to admit the truths about society, and then do something about it. I want a world where love and an outstretched hand are the weapon of choice.

Ask yourself, "how easy do you want it?"