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Thirty weeks after the first day of the second new year

In my post twenty-five weeks after the first day of the second new year, I told you there are going to be more posts of that type. This is one of them.

In that last post, I said that you should be aware of what’s happening in the world, our world. That you must not look away, that you need to know about events near and far, because at some point, in some way, they will impact you. But to be aware, you need to know everything that is happening, all occurrences, reality as it truly is. And that means you need sources of information, and you need these to be numerous, to come from different origins, to be diverse. The more information you have, the more points of view you gain of whatever it is you want or need to know about that you’re not there to see or hear yourself, the more you’ll be able to judge for yourself despite missing information and biases of the beholders, and the better you can build a picture that will accurately reflect reality.

You need information in order to know the truth. Don’t let anyone take it from you. You know those movies where you have a barrier or boundary of sorts within which people live, where they’re told that they’re safe where they are, that outside there’s only danger, and they believe it and obediently do what they’re told, see only what they’re convinced to see, until someone finally goes out and realizes there’s life outside their limited existence, a whole world they know nothing about? Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t let anyone limit you, don’t let them take knowledge, the ability to decide for yourself, away from you.
We have around us an abundance of sources of information. But that doesn’t mean these can’t be limited by those who have an interest in limiting what you know. There are those who would tell you to listen only to them and not to anyone else, who would urge you to believe only them and no one else. They would discredit those who in their opinion ask too many questions or don’t speak of them favorably. They would tell you not to listen to anyone who tells you anything they don’t want you to know, and in the process do their best to incite you against them, telling you there’s “them” and there’s “us”. They would threaten and work to shut down news stations and newspapers, try to limit to what you can view on the internet, try to restrict what you see, hear and read. And they would do so while citing any reason they can think of, from politics through nationalism to religion and tradition and whatever else they think will work. Just to make sure you know only what they want you to know, to make sure you don’t ask questions, that you don’t even know what questions to ask. Now think about it: you have sources of information to trust and mistrust, to choose to listen to or not. Do you want your kids to live in a world where they don’t have that choice? Where everything they know is dictated by people who want to control what they know and think, to decide for them? How’s that working for people just like you in countries where that has already happened?

Trust or mistrust your sources of information, but do so because you yourself have checked them out against reality, not because someone told you how to perceive them. Choose real views of the reality of our world, not the carefully crafted words of someone who wants to convince you of an untrue reality they want you to believe. Know what the true state of the economy is in your city, your country, the countries it does or doesn’t trade with, in order to understand the impact on your job, on future jobs. And know why. Know where the risk to you from excessive rains or heat comes from and where it could lead, so that you can better assess its impact on you, on your home, on your food supply, on your safety. And know why. Know where the people around you, in your town, in your country, in other countries, come from. And know why. Look at the future of your children, at their prospects in the years ahead, in a time after you will be gone. And know why. Look at your life and that of your neighbor, see if it’s getting better or worse. And know why. Know why, and know how to change, and not just locally, but in a way that, through us all, will spread in waves through the entire world.

We are convinced to live within our borders, among those who look like us, who think like us, who do like us. But the reality is that we all live in one world, that we will all face the same consequences if it falls. This world, and we in it, need a whole lot of attention. There is much we need to do, many issues we need to resolve. But to do that, to begin that, we need to know the true reality we live in and to understand our place in it. So think twice before you listen to anyone who tries to limit your knowledge. Strive to know, strive to learn to judge for yourself what you can trust and what you can’t. Strive to ask questions, to doubt, to see if there is another way of seeing, of thinking, of acting. Don’t let anyone leave you in the dark.