“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” William Shakespeare-
Questions of the Day: What do you want your children to be when they grow up…sustainable or disposable? What if we all found our voice and broke the silence about the issues that effect our lives? What fears are holding us back from being true to ourselves and being the person we were born to be? Can we have freedom while being silenced by fear?
There are many of us who are working together as Activists and Advocates to create a Sustainable Earth Community by first Breaking the Silence and discussing the issues that are destroying our local communities.
Can freedom exist when the words Activist and Advocate are enough to promote fear especially when the ability to provide for the basic necessities of life…food…shelter…clothing for our families depend on becoming a “silent clone” under the “control” of an institution, government or corporation?
We are quick to judge and condemn other people and other countries but turn a blind eye to the same behavior in our own community or our personal lives. We can judge an inner city child who joins a “Street Gang” as a means of survival having no problem condemning them to life in prison and yet we will tolerate and contribute to any means of survival in the workplace in order to keep and be promoted in our jobs.
We can go around the world freeing, fixing and saving other countries yet we can’t produce the food, clothing and shelter to be sustainable in our own communities.
When are we going to Break the Silence?
Fear gives away freedom and creates secrets to conceal the discrepancies between the mission statement of an institution and the actual control or management policies of that institution whether it be corporate, government, political, educational or religious.
Where does freedom start? Just as Shakespeare said in the above quote from Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3, 78-82 in which “To thine own self be true” is Polonius’s last piece of advice to his son Laertes as he leaves to go to Paris. Freedom starts with us taking an Active Advocate role in our own lives and being a role model for our children. Everyone is a role model and a living example for our children whether we realize it or not and our actions speak louder than our words. Creating a sustainable community means insuring that every child receives the nurturing and learns the life-skills to be a contributing producer in the community.
As long as we keep quiet out of fear, the issues that are destroying our communities will keep us sick, poor, depressed, and under the control of those who are benefiting from our suffering. The controlling institutions promote cloned servants and “enforce laws” to continue gaining more power and control.
To maintain control, the power abusers must promote fear, competition, distrust and conflict among those they wish to control. In payment for safety and security, we are willing to give away freedom and the future of our children.
Let’s Break the Silence on the issues and challenges we are facing in our own local community by asking these questions:
- Why are the majority of babies born to single teenage mothers in this County?
- What message are we sending to our children when “love” is openly displayed as sex and bedroom scenes on every top rated show on television with teen-age sexual activity depicted as the norm?
- Why are the vast majority of students even the “Straight A Students” in our schools scoring so low on the mandated academic assessment test and teachers attempting the “last month cram” to get by?
- What occupations or work are we educating to perform and will there be enough demand for this work for our children to be self-sufficient?
- Why can we justify spending several million dollars on a maximum security juvenile detention facility rather than providing a life-skill training center doing public service within the community?
- Why are our government officials making comments on “breaking ground and acquiring land for new development” when we have so many beautiful existing vacant buildings and houses available for renovation and revitalization.
- Why are we sending military personnel to Afghanistan to teach farming techniques when we do not teach or practice any practical life sustaining farming work skills in our community.
- Why is over two-thirds of the supposedly fresh farm produce…fruits and vegetables in our local grocery store grown out of the Country when we have so much available land and water in our local county?
- Why are we packaging up food to send to “starving” people in other countries when we produce less than 25% of the food we consume in this country and we have no canning facility in our county.
- Why are we spending millions of dollars on health care, diseases, weight-loss, and flu vaccines while ignoring the toxins and chemicals that are creating these health issues.
- Why are 96% of the clothes we are wearing in this country made in sweat shops in other countries when we have an overwhelming demand for clothing that fits our bodies without creating muffin-tops and over exposure?
- Why are so many people unemployed, without a home, hungry, drug-addicted, sick and depressed in this community when we have such a demand for needs to be fulfilled?
- What role model are we setting for our children when lying, cheating, and destroying lives are justified and glorified in the name of winning and the most recognized public figure by 5 to 9 year olds is Lady Gaga?
The outward appearance of not being sustainable is as diverse as the people who make up different communities. Just because a group of people appear to be more financially privileged does not make them more sustainable just less disposable.
In the past two weeks, my daughter Jennifer and I have made two trips to downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Jennifer is a natural Activist and Advocate for social justice who trained by way of the criminal justice system with the intention of enforcing and practicing law.
On the first trip, Jennifer saw the upscale renovation of the Plaza and the beautiful professional law offices in the downtown area. The purpose of this trip was a meeting to discuss Social Justice issues.
On the second trip, I asked Jennifer to accompany me and a group of “Activists” to assess potential projects for a group whose goal is “Renovate to Elevate Lives.” Even though we were only a few blocks from the area that we had visited on our first trip, we were in a financially challenged area used as a society human disposal community. Jennifer was shocked at the difference in Social Justice Issues.
This is a culture that was born into welfare, hand-outs and hand-me-downs. They have no practical life skills. Disposable street children survive by learning the skills of their role models…prostitution (male & female), pan-handling, stealing and selling drugs.
On the trip back home, Jennifer was comparing the area we had just visited with the community in which we live. We have the same issues of poverty, sickness, addiction, lack of role models and depression in our community…we are just better at keeping it a secret.
When are we going to Break the Silence?
We can talk about Supporting our Troops and send our young people off to “Serve their Country” and yet what do we do when the veterans come back. Approximately 1/3 of homeless adults (one out of every three) in this country are veterans, yet veterans represent only 11% of the civilian population. On any given night 154,000 – 300,000 veterans are homeless. Based on various estimates, 500,000 – 840,000 veterans are homeless at some time during the year. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs the number of homeless Vietnam era veterans exceeds the number of fatalities that occurred during the war. This does not allow for the number of Veterans that are housed in jails, prisons, assisted living and rehab facilities in this county. It is estimated that 76% of Veterans who served in War Zones experience alcohol, drug or mental health problems including Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
When are we going to Break the Silence?
Or we can talk about why we have more people incarcerated in prisons in this country than any other country in the world…many of them veterans who served their country in war zones and are now servants of the law. The prison system is a completely secret organization that operates without answering to any public scrutiny. When a person is incarcerated into the penal system, the secret organization takes over and the fate of the prisoner is dependent on the ability of the prisoner’s family to pay the prisoner’s way out. The harder a prisoner works and the better their behavior, the less likely they are to be granted parole. It is all but impossible to get any information concerning the health and welfare of an incarcerated person unless the family has large amounts of money at their disposal which is unlikely because those who are financially challenged are much more likely to be arrested and brought to trial by our legal system.
When are we going to Break the Silence?
My other daughter, Jessica is also an Activist and Advocate specializing in housing and energy efficiency. Jessica can give more accurate information about her areas of expertise than you ever wanted to know and then put you in contact with someone who can further assist you. I often attend events with Jessica and I watch while she Breaks the Silence and lives the change she wants to see in her local community while enduring the pain and suffering of rejection from those who are intimidated by her passion would like to just “shut her down.”
When are we going to Break the Silence?
The simple reason for Breaking the Silence is:
What do we want our children to be when they grow up…sustainable or disposable?
I give thanks to all the challenges, opportunities, and people that have come into my life which have reinforced my commitment to health, joy, love, wisdom and abundance for all God’s Beloved Children.
Love, Light & Lots of Laughter…Joa
Email: joa@joacarter.com
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