“What to do,” that is the question, for me!

I just can’t get out of my head,, the quotation of the head chief justice, judge of the Nuremberg trails, the judges who sat on the trail of the Nazis after the war. When all was done and the trails came to an end, the judge, Edmund Burke, made this famous quotation,

“all it takes for evil to Triumph, is for Good Men to Do Nothing… I perhaps am not a “good man”, but I am a man who has a conscience, and it is with this conscience that I do battle with. I do not understand how every one of us, in this world, do not have the same battles, because I believe that if we all had the same conviction, and conscience, especially about evil and injustice, then as a majority, we would be able to change the situation. I ask myself, is it just because of me, “I and I”, that I do Battle with this situation, because of “who I am” and the life I have lived. I ask why is the rest of the world not like me, why can’t we all fight against injustice and evil up until the point to where it will be completely irradiated. I know that most people would say that is not realistic, and that I should stop dreaming, but if we do not fight and do not run the race until the end, then we give in, and let the “evil triumph”. I guess that I just cannot let evil triumph, ever, and will probably grow old fighting until my last days. So then it’s back to the question for me, “what to do?”

I have read many of the biographies of so called great men, like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela. All of these men, and others before them, all agreed that when push comes to shove, and we are at a dead end street, civil disobedience can be, and should be a solution. Looking back here in France to the 1960’s, this country was in a deadlock with its government, and President Charles De Gaulle. The people took to the streets, “civil disobedience”, protested, and continued to protest, until they overthrew the government. If they were able to that, if that “one man,” Gandhi, or Nelson Mandela, remained defiant, and they were able to accomplish their goals, then how much more are we capable to change the system?” Many would question me and ask, “but why do we want to change the system? Or “the system is too complex and complicated for me to change” or “why should I change the system”? “you cant change the system!” I have heard all the debates and arguments, and I ask myself, is it because I travel so much around the world, to so many developing and third world countries, that I see the need for change, do others see the need, or is it that most people are content, and satisfied with the present world political social economic and religious system? I do not want to sound like a complete depressive pessimist, but believe me I have seen the injustice corruption and evil of this world, the manipulation of entire countries, people, ethnic cultures, economies, right here on my own doorstep, the local politicians and their corruption, selfish egotistical, greedy men and woman, racists, evil fascists, people who want more money and power. Sabine and I have traveled extensively though the Tamil occupied areas in Sri Lanka , and have spoken to the local Tamil people, and heard of the atrocities, we have been in the North East of India and Bangladesh last year, and seen the suffering, and injustice.. I have just learned that in South Africa after so many years of suffering under apartheid, the black people who are the great majority of the population, own less than ten percent of the land in their own country. The list of injustice and wrong, it is very long, we all know that, and this brings us back to my question, “what to do,”

I believe that we must shout from the rooftops, move, protest, strike, live the change, constant revolution, remain conscientious, resist the evil, flee from evil, and DO something, to stop the Injustice and the wrong in this world. If we do nothing, then who are we? And what good are we, for the advance and future of this world, for the people who suffer now, and for the future generations? I speak here only for my self driven by my own conscience, by my own personal conviction driven by love and my belief in God, Something has to be done, I want to do something, to change the world, to make it a better place, filled with justice, equality, Liberty , Fraternity, Peace Love and Light.

Clive

April 2009