If Not I, Then Who?
To foreword the rest of whatever this becomes below, I would like to note a few key things. First and very foremost, I am not a good person. I am not an example of stewardship for the environment, or love for another. I am not sharing my ideas in this fashion out of a mission for self-righteousness. I am simply sharing my own observations in efforts that my voice, along with the culmination of the whole, will be able to resonate among the others and make a resounding sound that will finally be heard. Second of all, the information that is cited within this short excerpt is as accurate as me, a regular person searching information from scholarly sources on the internet and whatnot, is able to do. There may be information used from sources that will become or have recently become deemed “less credible” due to the turbulent nature of the global media industry and popular culture. Lastly, my words are not meant to be a warning, nor are they made to be that of admonishment for the human race. We have surpassed the times when we should feel guilty for our actions. We are now seeing firsthand the beginnings of our punishment. It is a time for action, not for guilt or further hardship placed upon others for the actions of the past. What we can only determine now is the fate of the present and the future for ourselves and those who may come after us.
IF NOT I, THEN WHO?
The state of the world in the current moment is an interesting topic to mull over in one’s mind, let alone talk about with others. In popular culture, and widespread social media, many prefer to refer to it as the theme of the year 2020, blaming many of our plights on the year, rather than be able to see these current times as one of the final tipping points for the years and years of damage and mistreatment that we have rendered upon one another and the environment for decades and more before.
As activism becomes an increasingly relevant topic, more people are able to raise arms and call attention to any one given thing that they care about, regardless of the implications that it has upon others. This isn’t to imply that all of the things being protested nowadays are not worth their effort, but some things are certainly more important as compared to others, and that is a relevant fact. If we just focus on the fact that the ice caps are melting, and forget that they’re melting because of our excessive use of fossil fuels in the US alone, we in reality only fix the problem of the underlying guilt that we carry. This would lead to question the motives of activism, or the majority of activism at least in the modern age. Are we protesting things just so we do not feel bad for our ignorance of the past, or do we actually care about the causes that we are screaming about in public?
As this writing has no real outline of material, I would like to cite a few tidbits of information to get the brain jogging. To begin:
An average of 86 suicides happen per day in the United States, 20-15 of them during any one given day being that of Armed Forces Veterans. (United States VA, 2017)
This number has steadily risen since being first in-depth researched back in 2005.
Cardiac issues and Cancer are now the #1 and #2 causes of death for first responders, a majority of them being firefighters and law enforcement. (NFPA, 2020)
The rate of law enforcement deaths in the line of duty has risen steadily over the past 5 years.
African Americans in the United States are faced with the highest rates of home loan denials on average, with this being the trend for the previous 6 decades, many of the earlier ones having specific regulations in denying them loans. (Washington Post, 2019)
The rate of denial for Blacks in current times sits at 18.4%, compared to 13.5% for hispanics, 10.6% for Asians, and 8.8% for non-hispanic whites and caucasians. (Washington Post, 2019)
Within the United States, 39% of all adults and 19% of all children within the recorded population are considered obese. (CDC, 2020)
The highest rates of obesity lie within minority populations, a majority of them within the African American and Hispanic contingents (CDC, 2020)
1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men in the US have experienced violent sexual contact during their lifetime, with 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men experiencing that from an intimate sexual partner. (RAINN, 2020)
On average, there are 433,648 victims of rape and sexual assualt over the age of 12 in the US per year. (RAINN, 2020)
The most rapes and sexual assaults happen between the ages of 12-34. (RAINN, 2020)
If anyone is interested in that information, or the frequency of how often it occurs, how it occurs, or that the information is even important enough to be tracked, I implore you to continue reading. Here’s a little bit more:
Every year, there are about 55 tons of fossil energy, bio materials, minerals, and metals extracted from the earth (The World Counts, 2020)
This includes the loss of 80% of the world’s total forested land in order to make way for industry.
As from the current rate of deforestation, 5-15% of tropical animal and plant species alone will become extinct each year (The World Counts, 2020)
110 Million Americans live in air pollution so bad, the government considers it “bad for their health.” (Treehugger, 2020).
Of course all of the following statistics are just a footnote on the addendum to the actual damage that is occurring environmentally, socially, and culturally throughout the globe. I wasn’t even able to approach the damage that occurs on a daily basis to public lands in the US on the basis of fossil fuel depletion, or the numerous genocides that are taking place in other nations that have been covered up as part of back-door government initiatives. It’s almost comical that we believe as a human race we are able to find ways to adequately handle a global pandemic, when we are not even able to focus our attention to the things that are known to actually kill us if we continue to ignore them.
What’s the point then of me even writing this? Well, to be entirely honest, at the bottom line, I felt like I had to do something. That is that this could just contribute to the armies of others crying out with no real course of action, but hear me out-perhaps this, as I had stated before, could be another call to action, resounding with the others that many finally hear. We are living in a world that is ours. It is up to us to be able to take care of one another and change it for the better.
It is our responsibility to pick up little spots of trash on the street, regardless of if we are the ones that put it there. Care for one another, and understand the idea of empathy. This is an especially hard concept for myself to come to terms with, as anyone who knows me personally would understand my knee-jerk reaction on many occasions where I would be quick to anger. Being a responsible human being within society or otherwise is no longer a political or social problem, it is a corporate problem, one that others are affected by regardless of if we actively acknowledge that or not. There are so many of us on the planet nowadays that long-gone times of being able to build a cabin out in the middle of the wilderness to let the world burn on it’s own is impossible. Someone owns all of that land now, and the world’s fires will catch up with you. As much as I would whole-heartadley want to do the same thing.
Understand that we are a species now that is able to understand and measure the impact that we have on the environment, and other people. We are too advanced to continue to deny the real-time effects of climate change, and even moreso, far too advanced to act like we weren’t the ones that did all of that damage. In the same way, we are too aware to deny the underlying aspects of racism and separatism that we hold so dear within the deep, dark, and personal auspices of our own minds. Sure, your parents before you taught you something, and sure, they didn’t necessarily make it easy for you, but you are a person with a wealth of information within grasp. It only takes one single little shuffle of a step to be able to open your mind to what else is out there. We are no longer allowed to be afraid of the things that we do not know.
It is up to us to take action to save the world that is our home and the people that surround us. There is no one else that is going to do it for us. Ask yourself the single key question in all of it: If Not I, Then who?
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