We need a peaceful revolution in thinking and living.
The problem is that the revolutionaries are otherwise engaged. They’re delivering Fedex packages, waiting tables, driving taxis, entering data and countless other tasks–including, yes, writing books and blogs–for 12 hours a day.
They’re working their butts off to afford the gas and the car payments and the Christmas presents. They’re worried about whether their kids are safe, whether they’ll be able to afford the mortgage, how they’ll pay if they break a leg.
So when the news comes on and some newscaster starts droning on about the climate, they care, yes. And they think we ought to take care of it. Just as soon as we take care of the health care system and the economy and national security.
It’s not that we don’t care. It’s that we’re more scared of today than we are of tomorrow.
The way modern life is set up in these United States, so many of us feel like we could fall off the tightrope at any moment and there’s no safety net. What happens to an American who loses a job and gets sick? Without some sense of security, how can we risk taking our eyes off our daily tightrope long enough to worry about the problems of the future?
It’s not selfishness. It’s not apathy. It’s not mindlessness.
It’s busyness.
We’re too busy to think.
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But however we define the problem, the question stays the same:
How can we help?