Individual Responsibility

How is it that everyone can have the right idea, and the world can still be going to pot? Everywhere you go(almost) you can find people who have a good grasp of the problems and know what to do about them. Despite what many people say, the majority of Americans are not stupid people, so why are there all these stupid mistakes being made.

We've all heard talk of apathy, we've all seen it in action, and -though I doubt we'd like to admit it- we've all felt its grip in our lives to some extent. In big communities, in this case the community being America, it's easy to convince ourselves that somebody else will do something about the community's problems; or we think we're only a small part of the community and thus whatever responsibility we have for the problem is not substantial enough to warrant any restorative action.

I'm sure we've all heard fund raisers and pledge drives. You know how they always talk about, 'we need your pledge to make our goal' and 'only you make this possible'. We tend to dismiss that, but despite being an overly used pledge drive line, it's got some truth in it. Look at it this way, if you have a goal of, say a thousand votes, and after however long you get exactly a thousand votes. If only one of those voters had voted, then you wouldn't have hit your mark, it doesn't matter if it was the first voter or the 600th voter that didn't vote, you wouldn't have reached your mark.

It doesn't matter how big the community is, the responsibility for the issues fall entirely on all of our shoulders. It's not some mathematical equation where you can go, 'well, responsibility factor is 100 and there are 1000 people so everyone is only .1 percent responsible.'. It doesn't work like that, we all have a part to play, and all of our parts are vital, the difference between fixing the problem or not. We are a not responsible as a community, we as individuals, are responsible for our community's problems. Apathy is not a problem of community, it's a problem of the individual.

-Joshua Shillingworth

Freedom is the Sacrifice of Power

“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” You should recognize this as Newton's second law of physics. Of course, he was talking about it in terms of the physical, you push a rock and the rock rolls. What people don't realize though is it applies to everything, including the intangible. What I want to focus on is power. This rule is often disconnected from this concept. Most people feel like having more power gives them the ability to transcend this rule. Not so. Does the businessman who has worked and worked to gain power within his company have the freedom to do what he wants. No, in actuality he has sacrificed power over himself for power over others. He has the ability to fire, lay off, promote, or demote anyone beneath him in the company hierarchy, but he cannot spend time with his family, he cannot take a break, he can't even stay in one place for any length of time. The more power over others you have, the less freedom you have for yourself. The President of the United States is often considered the most powerful person in America, but does he have any freedom. The sacrifice of Power, is freedom. It's a rule that nobody has been able to transcend.
Also, with that rule in mind, where does your freedom go, who has hold of the power holder's freedom. The answer is, the people that power is being held over. I'm sure you've heard the phrase, “don't point the gun unless you're willing to pull the trigger”, well it's the same concept. Don't threaten with power unless you're willing to exert it. When you attempt to force someone to your will, you give them a simple choice, bend to the will, or resist it. And by giving them that choice, you hand them your freedom, if they resist, you are forced to exert your power, or lose your power because you weren't willing to pull the trigger.
Now, as you gain power and reputation by pulling the trigger you have to do it less often. People gradually become docile and bend to the will of the power holder without resisting. Another way this can happen though, is not through fear, but through apathy. Generally people look at communist dictators and fear them because they pulled the trigger, and their view becomes narrowed because of it. The American government is growing in power over its people but nobody has pulled the trigger. It's because the American people have become apathetic, they have bent to the will of the government without putting up a fight. We as citizens of America have allowed our government to take over without pulling the trigger, and frankly, it's embarrassing. Where other countries had rebellions and uprisings, American's watch the news on television, rag about the stupidity of everything and then get back to their normal lives.
I have to refine my earlier statement, the government isn't taking over because American's people are bending to the government's will, they simply aren't standing up to it. The only difference between the two, is that rebellion is more glorious then apathy.

-Joshua A. Shillingworth

Perception, What do you See?

Life is an exciting process. Or it can be, depending on how you look at it. You see, perception is a faulty faculty. It always tells you the same thing, but it changes how you receive what you see. Some people call this a bias, or a subjective view. Everybody has one, it is impossible to maintain a completely objective view. Perceptions don't always have to be bad though. They can make you take life as a joy, or make you endure life as a burden. Everybody sees the same things, and there is only one Truth, but people perceive it in many different ways, creating the illusion of multiple truths.

So after establishing that everyone has a certain perception, then what does that mean. It means that people are going to see things differently, and it means that if you want to make a point, you have to portray it according to your listeners perceptions. See this is why you can't please everyone, because there is no way to present something that will satisfy all perceptions. This means that if you desire to make your view known, or convince someone of something, you have to understand how that person thinks in order to best portray your view. Perception is factor, and sometimes a problem, but it's there none the less and you have to take it into account.

So, the statement 'life is an exciting process', isn't necessarily true. Because the word 'exciting' is a subjective word, or a way of perceiving things. To be honest, I can't tell you any absolute Truth, because I have a subjective view of the world. I can only tell you what I believe is true, and convince you to see things my way. Also what this means though, is that you can't make a statement like, 'life has no meaning,' and subsequently declare it as a truth. Because that is a subjective view of how the speaker sees life. So if there is an absolute truth, doesn't that beg the question of what it is?

Now I'm a Christian, and I believe God is the source of Absolute Truth, and there are a few reasons for that. Because I believe the evidence for Christianity outweighs the evidence against it is definitely a factor in my belief, but it is far from the most prevalent. You see, I watch the lives of Christians, real Christians who follow God and are committed to the bible's teachings, and I see rich lives full joy of and happiness, suffering as well, but where there is suffering there is always faith, and when the suffering is over, there is always Victory in Christ. When I am told that believing in Christ makes for a dull, painful, joyless life, I can only shake my head in disbelief. Do not listen to what people tell you about those dull churchgoers, find a real Christian, and see for yourself.

-Joshua Shillingworth

Body of Individuals

Can one person change the world? It's a question I'm sure every kid asks at one point. Or do they? That, I think is one of the big problems in America. Kids don't see their life as a possibility for productivity. You see, life is what you make it, you've heard that before I'm sure. Usually when you try and explain that “life's not fair” or , “I couldn't help it.” You see, if something bad happens, you have the opportunity to fight it, or not. Even if you do you best and you still don 't win, it's your fault. Because you didn't have the skill to do anything.

Now, there's a grey area that this line of thought creates, for example, is it a husbands fault because his wife died of cancer, is it his wife's fault that she died of cancer. I'm not going to answer that, because I don't think it has a very clear answer, I called it grey for a reason. What I will say though, is who's fault it is doesn't matter in a situation like that. Even justice can be a form of revenge. You see, I don't believe in most people's version of justice. Justice to me is something that is done to prevent something similar from happening again, not so the wronged party can feel better. Besides, time and experience has shown that justice does little to make an injured party feel better. Justice is only necessary because human courts are an imperfect solution to imperfection. If a judge could look at someone and know 100% whether someone had truly repented of their iniquity then there is no point in punishing them beyond making them pay back as well as they can for damage caused. Since that is impossible though, the human “court” is a necessary system.

Back to the original question though. In my opinion, the answer is no. Can one person throw the snowball that starts an avalanche? Yes. Some people would say I'm nitpicking on details, because obviously since the person started it all they get credit for it. It comes to down to the idea of a body of individuals. Everyone has their own story. Sure Lauren joined the Christian movement because she heard the famous preacher speak, but you haven't heard the details about how she was struggling as a single mom, working days and nights, and slowly being driven to her knees by the pressure of life. In comparison the preacher did very little. You see a body of individuals can only happen because each separate individual chose to join the movement, chose to raise their spear alongside yours, and work towards a common goal as a separate person.

-Joshua A. Shillingworth

Like it or not, We're Imperfect

The thing that people have to realize is this. People are imperfect. Whether your Christian or Buddhist or Hindu or whatever, the bottom line is people are imperfect. If your religion tells you otherwise then I'd look a bit deeper into history, not to mention your own life. We have a tendency towards doing evil, that is why the balloon isn't filled with helium. So basically we have everything going against us. The only thing for us, is that we have a mind that can grasp that we are basically evil, and can do something about it. We are sensitive to morality, whatever your source of morality is.

People argue all the time about morality. Now, I personally am a believer in Jesus Christ as a saviour. I am not a Baptist, I'm not a Methodist, I'm not a Presbyterian, or a Catholic. I am a Christian. So I believe that the human life has value, and that “We Hold these Truths to be Self-evident”, and I quote “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain Unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Now, in case you hadn't already recognized these timeless words, they are from the Declaration of Independence. Now what this means, is that you have the right to do anything you want as long as your not popping somebody else's balloon in the process. The big thing people don't recognize though, is what counts as popping somebody else's balloon. People think, “well, murder, that counts, and stealing, yeah, that's it.”
Well I hate to break it to you, but there are many more things that “count”. People, in their basically evil nature, are constantly trying to stretch the rules,like, convincing this woman that her husband won't mind if we have good time together. Just because somebody agrees to be a partner in something bad doesn't mean it isn't bad, and it doesn't mean you're not responsible for the bad things that you do together. Doing something evil, early in a person's life, effects the rest of a persons life. We are called not to falsely influence people into doing something evil, because it counts as popping their balloon.

So, there is one more thing that this does for us. If somebody pops our balloon, then we have the right to pursue happiness, which means an action of self-defense. This gives us the right to fight evil. It gives us the right to retaliate in protection of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We are also called to protect others who can't protect themselves. If that means sending “bloodthirsty, trigger happy marines” out to kill terrorists, then so be it. I personally am going to take my hat off to them when they come back to America. You see people think fighting is bad. But it's not, what you fight for is bad or good. And depending on whether it is bad or good, the fighting is bad, or good.

-Joshua A. Shillingworth

"Pop or be Popped"

A lot of people would say that the balloon has hit the floor before, and has either bounced back up or been picked back up. I disagree though. I think they're looking at it in a small picture of things. Now, I'm sure that as the balloon of the Roman empire was sinking, all the Romans thought the world was going to end. And to an extent it did, when the Roman empire finally collapsed it was the end of an era. It's still a small picture though, because as the Roman empire collapsed, and their "balloon" sunk, nations like the Turks, and Egyptians began to grow in power, not to mention the dozens of barbarian tribes that had been brought under the Roman thumb.

So, how can the balloon be sinking but rising at the same time. Well, you have to widen your view. The Romans weren't the only ones with a "balloon". And it's the same thing with America. The American balloon can bust, and will eventually, but the world will still go on. I, along with every other American,dead or alive; like to think that the world would be a better place if America didn't fall; but, if your a Chinese communist dictator, America is the only thing standing between him and world domination. Of course, after the world has been nuked he won't have to worry about dominating, people will give it to him.

The point of it all, is that depending on which balloon your livelihood is attached to, the world either busts, or doesn't; and depending on which one happens, you either adapt, or don't. So what is the point of fighting to keep your balloon up if it means putting a needle in the next guy's. Mostly it comes down to one thing. People think their balloon is more important, yeah, surprise surprise, amazing how some people value their lives over other peoples. If you didn't know that this world is ethically cannibalistic then I'm surprised you haven't been eaten yet. Sometimes though people have the courtesy to attach someone's string to their balloon before popping the other one. Why do anything though, is it really "pop or be popped", why does anyone have to get their bubble burst?

There's another simple reason for it. Some people are mean, and the pop balloons for the sake of power or just for fun. And if that happens, then you fight back.

Now, through all of this, I've been entertaining a question just for the sake of humor. Why don't we just put helium in the balloon?

-Joshua A. Shillingworth

Flaw in the Logic

There's a hitch in the logic so far though. If every man and woman has a special set of desires, leanings, and goals allowing them to fulfill a unique purpose, then how do you find a goal or cause that they will fight for. What cause allows everyone involved in fighting for it to fulfill their own personal goals and passions. Some people choose things like freedom, and subsequently march off to war against their respective governments. A worthy cause indeed, but so far every government or leadership of any country or civilization throughout history has crumbled. In spite of their nations respective freedom fighters.

“But,” you say, “what about the American revolution, it succeeded, what about the French Revolution.” Which, though bloody and cruel did technically “succeed”. There is a particular quote that fits this perfectly, it was said by Napolean Bonaparte(the connection to the French Revolution is no coincidence). He said, “Among those who dislike oppression, are many who like to oppress.”

See, the French Revolution succeeded, the government at the time was overthrown, it was just replaced with something worse. Resistances are always glorious when they're fighting for their lives. Why do they change if they win? Why is it that every successful resistance has been succeeded by a slow fall back into corruption? It's like trying to keep a non-helium balloon in the air, it always sinks again, and keeps sinking until someone either reacts and knocks it back up or it hits the ground. And if you hadn't noticed, the reactions are getting slower and slower.

You see the problem is in the cause. When a resistance is in the middle of “resisting” oppression, it's fighting for freedom. It's fighting for a good cause. You know the phrase you are what you eat, well, you are what you fight for. If you fight for something pure, then in the process you will most likely grow into a better person in the process. When a resistance succeeds, it isn't fighting for freedom anymore, and each succeeding generation sinks farther and farther back into corruption. The problem with America, is we have lost our cause. The Capitalistic economy is good but it is motivated by greed, and greed isn't a good cause. America needs to rise up in defense of a pure cause, or eventually, the balloon is gonna hit the floor.

-Joshua Shillingworth

Conflict of Ideals

The title of the blog is, at first glance, misleading. It gives the impression of an open field filled with two competing armies, with rows of bristling spears. But in reality it's much more than that.

When men and women pit themselves as a body of individuals to a certain task, they can accomplish an impressive amount. And I lay stress on the phrase, body of Individuals. You see, the key difference between communist countries and America, is that communist countries are a people unified into one, and America is about individuals united towards a single goal. And when people lose their individuality they lose their passions and goals in a relative amount. A person is made different by what his goals and desires are, how he thinks and how he perceives things. These interests aren't allowed to flourish because of all the consuming distractions and subtle indoctrination of our culture. A body of individuals means you have a toolbox with every tool you'll ever need. Where as a communist body is like having twenty million screwdrivers.

You see a spear by itself is nothing, one individual wielding the spear of his passion can do very little(unless it's in a novel, and the power of the author can be used), it is sad but true. One man wielding his beliefs and convictions can do nothing against a tide of corruption and evil, whatever your evil may be. But if you can call others to your belief, if you can motivate others to wield their spears alongside yours, in the process letting their passions and convictions fuel the battle. That's when you can finally wage war in the conflict of ideals.

So in a way it is an open field, filled with opposing armies, except for one key difference, the stage has shifted from spears of iron and steel on a physical plane, to ideals, hardened and brought to a tip by the fire of public ridicule and skepticism, making their slow way into the hearts and minds of a populace.

-Joshua A. Shillingworth