If asked would I prefer to own a Crystal Ball with which to foresee the future, or a Magic Wand with which to change things, I'd reply: "Neither." The stress involved and weight of responsibility of either, would be unbearable. I prefer to be relatively ignorant of the future, and to feel like I can at least in some ways change things for the better, both personally and in society at large. To the extent we are educated and thoughtful, we already possess some ability to guess the future. How we choose to spend our time and money, who we choose to work with, work for, and befriend, and what we eat, influences our future plenty. I am grateful for my set of friends, relatives, clients, readers, neighbors and so on. I try to be civil with people I disagree with. But also, I do speak out, sign petitions, and agitate against what I deem unjust, selfish, shoddy, exploitive and so on. By speaking out, I rumple some feathers; by acting up, even more so. If the status quo of society pleased me, perhaps silence would be proper. But there is ample room for positive change. In the last 6 months, I watched two movies that featured people making choices and taking action for the better. One was Big Eyes, Margaret Keane's story, needing to divorce two bad husbands. The other was the documentary Alive Inside, about a man's mission to help people with Alzheimer's disease enjoy music --and the bureaucratic crap he endures. I love happy endings, and when good triumphs over evil. Both movies were inspiring.
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