I have always thought much about people
and why they do what they do. It was always hard for me to imagine
how for so long that pain and suffering has existed. Receiving the
question of why do people write viruses over and over, for me there
is many answers, but it comes down to one. The answer is, because
they can.
It is the same answer for many things.
Why do people hurt one another? Why do people steal, when they do not
need it? Why must the strong always oppress the weak? Why must there
always be a struggle? Humans are greedy people. We want what we do
not have, and, by nature, are not happy with what they have.
Greed is the root of so much that is
wrong with our lives and our world. The world is a big place, but
each day we try to make it a little smaller. Someone once said, in
response to the question of why World Domination will never occur.
The answer was, “The world is too big, and the people are too
different for any one group or ideal to dominate it all.”
Many have also said you cannot change
the world, but you can change yourself and help change the things you
touch. Now from this point your mind could be going in many different
directions, but primarily along two different paths, negative and
positive. So is the reason the world becoming smaller is so someone
can control it? Or as we touch so much more and so many more people,
can we not more effectively change more that we touch?
But what does this have to do with
viruses? How to viruses spread? Everyone knows how a cold spreads,
through contact. Viruses the same way. Ideas are humanities greatest
virus. They spread as one to the other. If an idea takes hold, a
notion, it can spread like wildfire. We see this every day in every
facet of our lives. The idea that certain clothes look cool to the
idea that this diet will work for you, to the idea that this person
or that person knows what they are talking about.
These ideas build our society, and
society, a lot of times, define our world. We are in an information
age, so now more than ever is the concept true that Ideas are some of
the most powerful and dangerous things out there. We have seen this
in popular culture going back for some time. Inception was not the
first, and neither was the Matrix. George Orwell's 1984 showed us an
idea of control.
We flash back quite a way to the ideas
that changed the world. From, “Fire good!” to Jesus might know
what he's talking about to, E=MC2 is a good recipe for a weapon, to
if we hook computers together they are much more powerful, to hey
what if I could take my phone with me. Ideas change and shape our
world and our lives.
Hey if a man letting himself get struck
by lightning can change the world... why can't you? I mean really
think about it, Ben Franklin, indisputably one of the most
revolutionary men in history really shone with the great idea of
being able to harness electricity, but what did he do. “Hey guys
watch this! I'm gonna tie a key to this kite to prove that
electricity is real.” I mean seriously, how could ANYONE think that
was a GOOD idea?
If ideas such as leaving fruit juice
out too long will and drinking it will get you drunk can be accepted
not only as good ideas, but major industries. Why could more fruitful
ones take hold? Well they can, but the trick in this age is getting
people to take on ideas that they will not make a profit and will not
get them more attention. How many of you, honestly, would not jump on
board with an idea that would without a doubt make you a millionaire
in a year with no consequences?
How about this one, taking on the
belief of an idea that would get you labeled crazy if it promised you
eternal life? I bet you would for sure if you didn't get this eternal
life after you died. Death is scary for most of us. Here is the
problem, we want to see that there is proof of this good idea before
we will take it on ourselves.
This is understandable, it is a rare
kind of person that wishes to be the first to do something that could
be labeled as a bad idea, but man we all want to be the first to do
something that is considered a good idea. All reward with No risk.
Sorry life is not so easy. Yes you can live life in such a fashion,
always taking the safe road and sticking with the status quo. The
Status Quo does not equal change however. If you want to change
things, you really have to be willing to take that step out there and
be the first.
If you want to change yourself however,
this is even more difficult. You have to be willing to change how YOU
do things, and do things that are against the routines that you have
developed. Anyone that has been addicted to anything will tell you
how hard that can be. Our bodies are influenced by our environment.
Part of our environment is our history. We learn how humans have
existed for as long as we have been, and we accept that is the way of
things. So what if you want to believe something that is contrary to
what you were taught to believe? That's hard.
Pearl Bailey had a wonderful quote,
“You cannot belong to anyone, until you belong to yourself.” Now
for me, what this means is you have to know who you are and be
yourself before you can truly know why you believe in what you
believe in. You have to develop your own idea of how the world is,
and how you are. You have to walk through these fires before your
faith can truly belong to you and it's not just borrowed from someone
else. Only then will your walk be true.
So moving to the heart of things. What
do you want our world to be like? Loving, accepting, one without war
and strife? You want a world without oppression? As Michael Jackson
said, “You have to start with the man in the mirror.” World
change begins with you. You want others to desire to be a Christian,
give them reason to with your walk. “Faith without works is
meaningless.” “May they know that you are my children because
they see me in you.” If you really treated others with love and you
loved them as you loved yourself... most of us wouldn't call anyone
anything horrible. Now if you are like me and have a bad habit of
talking to yourself... well I can be less than kind to myself, but
hey I still love me every chance I get.
How about we start walking with the
love of God instead of trying to do his job and walking with a yard
stick to see how everyone else just doesn't measure up. May God be
with you in your heart and your soul. And let's keep taking that red
pill and see the world for what it is, so we can begin to make it the
world that Jesus would love it to be. We have to be in this world,
but not of it.
