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The Christmas Hope: A To-Do List for a Better World
Submitted by John W. Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
“The Christmas hope for peace and good will toward all men can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some utopian. If we don’t have good will toward men in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power. Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. We must either learn to live together as brothers or we are going to perish together as fools.”—Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Christmas Eve sermon, 1967
As a child, my Christmas wish list came right out of the Sears and Roebuck catalogue—toys, board games, bikes, action figures, etc. My parents, like so many in their day, belonged to the working-class poor, so while I never lacked for the necessities of life, many of the items on my wish list never came to be. Even so, I was no worse off for it.
I wish the same could be said of those still unfulfilled items on my adult Christmas wish list. Each year, I wish for the same things—an end to war, poverty, hunger, violence and disease—and each year, I find the world relatively unchanged. Millions continue to die every year, casualties of a world that places greater value on war machines and profit margins than human life.
I’ve seen enough of the world in my 68 years to know that wishing is not enough. We need to be doing. It’s not possible to solve all of the world’s problems right away. For most people, putting an end to world hunger, poverty, disease and the police state may seem too insurmountable a task to even tackle. But as I point out in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, there are practical steps each of us can take to hopefully get things moving in the right direction. Here’s what I would suggest for a start:
Tone down the partisan rhetoric, the “us” vs. “them” mentality. Politicians frequently perpetuate a “good” versus “evil,” “us” versus “them” rhetoric which pits citizen against citizen and allows the politicians to advance their personal, political agendas. Instead of wasting time and resources on political infighting, which gets us nowhere, it’s time Americans learned to work together to solve the problems before us. The best place to start is in your own communities, neighbor to neighbor. After all, at the end of the day, it makes no difference what politician you voted for—Republican, Democrat or otherwise—politics will never be the answer. Politicians have mastered the art of creating dissension, but they’re all the same. Grassroots activism is the only kind of change you can count on.
Turn off the TV and tune into what’s happening in your family, in your community and your world. Read your local newspaper. Attend a school board or city council meeting. Get involved with a nonprofit that works in your community. Whatever you do, reduce your intake of mindless television and entertainment news. The only reality programming worth taking notice of is the one playing in your home and community.
Show compassion to those in need, be kind to those around you, forgive those who have wronged you, and teach your children to do the same. Increasingly, people seem to be forgetting their p’s and q’s—basic manners that were drilled into older generations. I’m talking about simple things like holding a door open for someone, helping someone stranded on the side of the road, and saying “please” and “thank you” to those who do you a service—whether it be to the teenager bagging your groceries or the family member who just passed the potatoes. As author Robert Heinlein observed, “A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot...”
Talk less, listen more. Take less, and give more. If people spent less time dwelling on and attending to their own needs and more time trying to help and understand those around them, many of the problems we currently face could be eliminated.
Stop acting entitled and start being empowered. We have moved into the Age of Entitlement, where more and more people feel entitled to certain benefits without having to work for them. There’s nothing wrong with helping those less fortunate, but as my parents taught me, there’s a lot to be said for an honest day’s work.
Remember that all people are endowed with inalienable rights. I’ve heard a lot of chatter in recent years in favor of torturing detainees and denying basic rights to non-citizens, but doing so not only goes against everything that the U.S. is supposed to stand for, but it also goes against every principle common to all world religions—forgiveness, charity, nonjudgmentalism, nonviolence, etc. America cannot continue to lambast terrorist groups for their contempt for human life and dignity when our own nation violates these same principles time and again.
Stop being a hater. Increasingly, we as a society have come to reflect the hostility at work in the world at large. This is so even in such a virtual microcrosm as Facebook, where “unfriending” those with whom you might disagree has become commonplace. How can we ever hope to curb the hatred and animosity that have spurred global terrorism over the past few decades if we can’t even forgive the human failings of those in our immediate circles?
Learn tolerance in the true sense of the word. There’s no need to legislate tolerance through hate crime legislation and other politically correct mechanisms of compliance. True tolerance stems from a basic respect for one’s fellow man or woman. And it should be taught to children from the time they can understand right from wrong.
Treat women like people, not things. If pop culture and the media are any reflection of how women and girls are viewed today—primarily as sex objects—then one can only wonder what exactly the women’s rights movement has been doing in recent years. The use of sex and its impact on young girls is particularly troubling. As professor Henry A. Giroux observed: “Market strategists are increasingly using sexually charged images to sell commodities, often representing the fantasies of an adult version of sexuality. For instance, Abercrombie & Fitch, a clothing franchise for young people, has earned a reputation for its risqué catalogues filled with promotional ads of scantily clad kids and its over-the-top sexual advice columns for teens and preteens; one catalogue featured an ad for thongs for ten-year-olds with the words ‘eye candy’ and ‘wink wink’ written on them. Another clothing store sold underwear geared toward teens with ‘Who needs Credit Cards ...?’ written across the crotch. Children as young as six years old are being sold lacy underwear, push-up bras and ‘date night accessories’ for their various doll collections. In 2006, the Tesco department store chain sold a pole dancing kit designed for young girls to unleash the sex kitten inside.”
Value your family. The traditional family, such that it is, is already in great disrepair, torn apart by divorce, infidelity, overscheduling, overwork, materialism, and an absence of spirituality. Despite the billions we spend on childcare, toys, clothes, private lessons, etc., a concern for our children no longer seems to be a prime factor in how we live our lives. And now we are beginning to see the blowback from collapsing familial relationships. Indeed, more and more, I hear about young people refusing to talk to their parents, grandparents being denied access to their grandchildren, and older individuals left to molder away in nursing homes. Yet without the family, the true building block of our nation, there can be no freedom.
Feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and comfort the lonely and broken-hearted. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Take part in local food drives. Take a meal to a needy family. “Adopt” an elderly person at a nursing home. Support the creation of local homeless shelters in your community. Urge your churches, synagogues and mosques to act as rotating thermal shelters for the homeless during the cold winter months.
Give peace a chance. So far, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan have cost American taxpayers more than $4 trillion, and that doesn’t even begin to approach the human cost in lives lost—military and civilian—and families rent asunder. The military industrial complex has a lot to gain financially so long as America continues to wage its wars at home and abroad, but you can be sure that the American people will lose everything unless we find some way to give peace a chance. We can start by bringing all of our men and women in uniform home.
Start your own teaspoon brigade. You don’t have to solve all the world’s problems single-handedly, nor do you have to solve them overnight. Little by little, you’ll get there, but you have to start somewhere. It is up to each of us to do our part to make this a better world for all. As the legendary singer, songwriter and activist Pete Seeger once remarked to me:
I tell everybody a little parable about the “teaspoon brigades.” Imagine a big seesaw. One end of the seesaw is on the ground because it has a big basket half full of rocks in it. The other end of the seesaw is up in the air because it’s got a basket one-quarter full of sand. Some of us have teaspoons, and we are trying to fill it up. Most people are scoffing at us. They say, “People like you have been trying for thousands of years, but it is leaking out of that basket as fast as you are putting it in.” Our answer is that we are getting more people with teaspoons every day. And we believe that one of these days or years—who knows—that basket of sand is going to be so full that you are going to see that whole seesaw going zoop! in the other direction. Then people are going to say, “How did it happen so suddenly?” And we answer, “Us and our little teaspoons over thousands of years.”
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Merry. X mas zh you guys make my day
"A To-Do List for a Better World should include cutting down fossil fuel use before we're all fried/drowned by global warming"
Behind every unit of GDP is a unit of energy. A Great Depression is a good way to cut down on fossil fuel use.
In 35 years i haven't noticed any change in the sea level at Santa Monica beach.
Che Guevara and Castro's 1961 prophecy is about to be realized as shown on this link.
It's in Spanish but easy to understand. (Papa in this case means the Pope)
http://lab.org.uk/images/2014/cuba_cartoon_dec2014.png
Merry Christmas to all my ZH mates
"Society is your parents' writ large; your parents were nothing but agents of this society.
"It is all a conspiracy - the parents, the teachers, the policeman, the magistrate, the president - it is all a conspiracy, they are all together and they are all holding the future of all children."
~Osho, the book of children
Now if we could just infuse these fine sentiments into the CIA - Corporation's Invisible Army - we might get somewhere.
"We" didn't commit torture and mayhem, the CIA did and under orders.
Merry Christmas
Corporation's Invisible Army, meh, not so much.
How about if the amount of money spent on war was used to nuture, educate and provide for children's well-being.
The Children Corps
(happy new year!)
Abolish & live Kennedy's dream of scattering it into 1,000 pieces.
C. riminal
I. sane
A. sylum
How can any list be complete without wholesale destruction of WS and their purchased government prostitutes?
Sorry for the rant but this needs to be said.
What needs to be added to that list (and it should be the very first item on it) is "Harden our electrical grid against the effects of a Carrington Event". It is only a matter of time before the Earth will be hit again by another C-Event...with apocalyptic consequences for all of us if we are unprotected and our grid is badly damaged or destroyed. All the goals that the Rutherford Institute is striving for will end up being for nothing if we are all thrown into a world of Mad Max with many of our nuclear reactors cooking off one after the next.
We had a C-Event miss the Earth by one week back in 2012! Many of us reading this thread would probably be dead right now if it had hit! Nasa sugercoats what would have happened here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_supersto... but those informed know it would have been hell on Earth.
Why businesses, NPO´s, governments and citizens continue to bullshit around with all sorts of other issues when we all have this KNOWN, MULTIPLE TIMES STUDIED, YET CHEAPLY SOLVABLE problem facing us that can literally destroy our economic and life support systems and kill hundreds of millions of us, if not more, is absolutely mindless and beyond insane. This problem must be solved first, because any other problem, even if they are solved, will no longer stay that way when most of our human civilization is dependent on electricity to survive.
Traitors in high places want America to be weak against EMPs (both solar and nuclear)
It would put us well on our way to the United Nations and POTUS endorsed goal of zero carbon emissions.
There is alot of win-win potential,..........
My Christmas Wish List includes a Marine Invasion of Wall Street and Washington, D.C. with no Rules of Engagement.
Other than that, everything else is childish.
Speaking of which...
http://dailycurrant.com/2014/12/24/russia-shoots-down-santas-sleigh-near-north-pole/
Would those rules of engagement include high, medium, or low levels of empathy?
The Galveston Jetties are still above the waves as well. Just as they were.when I first saw them in 1965.
my roomate's ex-wife makes $76 every hour on the laptop . She has been out of work for ten months but last month her income was $13335 just working on the laptop for a few hours. read... WWW.WORKS3.COM
In the spirit of goodwill, foregiveness, and empathy for my fellow man, I, while noting that I find your repeatedly spamming your get-rick-quick scheme to be somewhat inappropriate and an minor annoyance, hereby extend my best wishes to you and your roommate's ex-wife. I sense that you are likely struggling financially and may be having difficulty feeding your family, and I empathize. I sincerely wish that in the new year you and your roommate's ex-wife find the riches and success you seek.
Yes we can, it is Christmas Eve, and here I am on ZH, and I truly believe what you just said is in the finest tradition of true Christmas spirit. and I wish you and yours very well for the coming year. I'm an old, lonely man (my wife of 43 years died February), but you epitomize the true spirit, which is pretty dead in me this year.
Thank you.
Nobody, very sorry for your loss.
I've only been married 36 years, but can only imagine what that loss is like.
Wishing you the best for Christmas and the New Year.
I'm thankful for ZH and all the colorful characters here that I truly enjoy. It proves to me every day that we are all far more alike than different, and that our dreams of a unified and fearless world are not a fantasy and but a few keystrokes away. I have taught my son since birth that the internet will be our salvation and I am now more convinced than ever. Communication is severely underrated. Our 'leaders' specialize in undermining it. Keep your heads up ZH'ers, we are headed for the age of glorious transformation. Wishes of good health, fortune, and imagination to all, and thank you.
Why is she your room-mate's EX wife? What happened that your room-mate and she decided that $13335 for just a few hours work was not worth staying together for?
Did your room mates wife split because she found out the two of you were rectum rangers?
I am reading Stuart's sanders book maneys confederate brigade at battle of perryville. My holiday indulgence. Wheeler fought all along my property covering bragg. Best wishes
"May peace be with your family and a revival of an American tradition begin in all our hearts.."
Amen brother. My son killed his first deer last night under very difficult conditions. At 11 years old, he put meat on the family table. I was doing a beaver and coon removal job in north Alabama.
Feel free to come along and see what the real world is like, unlike the fake, urban insane world that drives people crazy: My Sons First Deer
Thank you for that . My sons and I will be on hanging fork where it meets the dix sat
Best of luck brother.
Merry Christmas to everyone at ZH !
Meattrapper, thank you for the link to your video series. I really enjoyed your sons determination and the success he had on one heck of a rough day to hunt.
Maverick
That was awesome MT, thanks for sharing. Our oldest is a few years older and loves anything that involves hunting(and farming or fieldwork). It's a blast being able to pass those things along to the younger generation. We are hoping to go get some ring necked pheasant or quail here today this noon. It's been a little bit warm here and little snow cover in the midwest where I'm at so they have not been sitting very tight at all, but still good to spend time with the kids. Just started getting our middle daughter who is 11 getting used to shooting the 10/22 at the local range. She loves it.
Ironic that someone who produces a book with such an over-the-top title feels we should turn down the rhetoric.
He lost me at "attend a city council meeting." LOL
Yet another of Stalin's famed "Useful Idiots" if he thinks the mafia is a beneficial social organizing structure.
If he only knew...
Have fun with that....
Get right with Jesus. Then beat the shit out of the money changers.
And give to government what is theirs, which is very little.
Do not expect the mass media world to change. Just do your best to minimize them and their impact on everything in your life, every day, and in everything you do.
To go back to a capitalist economy rooted in morality. All will prosper if they choose to do so. The government will not be there to strangle you or your business.
Ummmm. That would be a FREE MARKET capitalist economy.
We already tried a crony capitalist economy and got "stimulus", Solyndra, and a taxpayer funded health care plan for unions that also makes cars.
No, we are not currently operating under a capitalist system. The government controls everything that companies do. One wrong move and the government swoops in to "fix," often times very expensively and painfully, the company.
I was trying to agree with you. You're just being difficult.
"The Christmas Hope: A To-Do List for a Better World"
Guillotine the banksters and their pol, crat and func puppets.
Have a good one.
The banksters need to repay us.
Maybe it's me, but I never read an article past the word Institute.
It's just another day Not really.
http://rt.com/usa/217523-stlouis-protests-killing-teenager/ gunfire for x-mas the madness never ends
What means Christmas, if Congress & Media don't talk about Important Issues at all at Christmas Time.
What is Gay Marriage, Marijuana, LBGT Politics, Big Gulps, Smoking in Restaurants, and stop and frisk the big issues... I can see how Stop and Frisk is part of a larger issue but....
Christmas in the Capitalist Capital of the Globe is about:
1) Capitalism
2) Marketing
3) Consumerism
4) GDP & Revenues & Retail Success
5) the Past, 2,000 years ago
I'm not actually against Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever... Why can't we have Nativity Scenes in front of Government Buildings if the people pay for them...?
But the Spirit of Christmas is about Sweeping Reforms in Government, in Education, in K-12, in the Free Press, and in Communities & Families...
- Thankfulness
- Charity
- Grace
- Forgiveness
- Absolution
- Repentance
- Making Amends
USA is a Psy-Op. USA is going to crash from ignorance. USA is mostly corrupt, and focused on Envy, Greed, Covetousness, Materialism, Fear, Debt, and the need to work to satisfy Patriarchs...
WTF.
Great idea. Take a break and don't do anything. And then when that doesn't work think about what happened. What is it doing? Does it have to do that. And it does it again. It won't stop. It happens and it won't stop. It has never stopped but you can look at it and hold your breath and pause it from inside yourself. But it is going to do it again and again until you're gone. And it doesn't fucking care. It does it without caring. But I care. And now my caring is caught up in its wheels. It can turn and turn with caring until there is a piece of old felt fabrick going around with its wheel caring. Not caring as it turns and yellows and wears out the fabric. It is different not caring the way it used to not care.
Never going to happen.
Bah Humbug.
Americans have this awful defect: even with the best intentions, they always end up lecturing. One way or another, they cannot let go of petty moralism and soapboxes. This author would have solved it all by saying "let us all do this or that" instead of delivering a bloody sermon, as if HE was perfect and us all, a bunch of badly-behaved adolescents.
Well, as a result, all you want to tell him is "fuck off, you sanctimonious fool" - when he only had the best in mind and is generally right.
How can Americans be so abysmally bad at tactfulness? It's not only about what you say, it's also about the way you say it. So find an acceptable way to say things, for Goodness sake, so you don't pass for a complacent prig on some civilizing mission.
And a happy Christmas to all.
Wait, isn't this a lecture chiding us not to lecture?
LOL and happy Christmas, Yoko
kum ba yah....yeah, right.....not so long as THEY OWN YOU!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ
For a better world be careful of these....
German Politicians Want European Army
Hitler’s Nazi Germany Used an American PR Firm
Foreign Bankers Rape Ukraine
Russia Helps Belarus Into WTO Through U.N. Fund
WTO Blocks Consumers From Knowing Where Thier Meat Comes From
China State Media Says – Sound British
E.U. Court Rules Obese People Can Be Considered Disabled
E.U. Leaves Opening In Law For New GMO Crops
E.U. and America Gorge On Taxes And Want Laws To Make Lower Taxes Illegal
Germany’s Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble Promotes Globalist Tax Collection For E.U.
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com
teaspoon brigade : can we make that into soup spoon?
For you, a ladle.
Merry Fucking Landfill
Meat Trapper,, good for your son. I was with dad when I killed my first buck. He is 89 now. Fondest memories of my 59 years is pheasant/bunny and deer hunting with him. I just returned from visiting family in the DC/Baltimore area and took some venison steak from my Illinois area down with me and cooked some steak and eggs the right way. None had ever had better tasting venison. Their Maryland deer is swamp deer where they hunt. Corn and soybeans venison,,, no comparison.
As to the article and fixing the world I say,,, make a difference where you can. I will share my last meal with you but don't steal from me.
Merry Christmas to all. Heading over to hang out with one daughter/son in law and 28 month old grand son who is learing to talk now. Appreciate every day,, they are a gift. I buried a 54 year old hunting buddy who left us way too soon from brain cancer. It has a way of changing your perspective on things.
Just have fun and spread joy. The rest is details that will take care of themselves.
After reading a few of these comments I now see why the USA is a becoming a lost cause. Keep the arms and gold, fund the CIA, so you can all feel safe and secure. Don't forget to drone a few more dark skinned 'insurgent' suspects.
It is easy to let a drone do it, you are protected and don't have to see the consequences, meanwhile those who survive are looking to this continent with hate in their eyes. For you who don't see the wisdom of the words in the above post, all I can say is, "forgive them for they know not what they do."
who could agrue with that list.
Merry Christmas to/and despite all.
Merry Christmas Zerohedgers...time to be thankful for the things that go right for me every day. And our group catharsis is certainly one of them for me. God bless you all!
These are Christian morals. Who said those in control live up to these standards? My thinking has me believing that the Love of Money overpowers western social standards, oh ya and living this way each and every day, not looking for penance after the facts only to do bad Monday.............We all know that that is Just Plain Wrong.
I also wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas
There is a simple saying that my mother taught me and I can't even tell you who said it, but I will requote it. "All that is required for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing".
The difference is I am confident in the future. I know you all "will" do something. If a totally science oriented person like myself can adopt Jesus into my life then I know there is indeed hope in this world. We need a bit of a spiritual awakening where we indeed show kindness to all. Where we realize that everyone is connected on some level and where we realize that no one is going to spearhead your efforts other than you.
Be blessed on this holiday and let it carry forward into the new year.
everything wil be ok if we just follow Donald
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMU-KGKK6q8
Merry Christmas everyone
this list is bullshit
all i want for christmas and hannukah is CREDIT DERIVATIVES!!
Christians and Muslims only divide us and spread hate. wake up and think for yourself.
OK. I'll give it a try.
Thinking . . . . Thinking . . . . Thinking . . . .
It's not working. Now what?