Ten Things You Can Do To Shape History

[realFedUp]

Ten Things You Can Do To Shape History
by Fran Korten,Executive Director
http://www.futurenet.org/article.asp?id=736

Fran wrote these recommendations right after 9/11
but they are still good ideas for action.

Let your voice be heard! At the Positive Futures Network, publishers of YES! magazine, we have compiled a list of 10 things you can do. Remember, every time you speak up, you give courage to others to do the same.

1. Reconnect with your spiritual foundation.Let yourself experience your full range of feelings at this time. Reconnect with the spiritual force that animates the best in you. Then let your every action flow from your strength and compassion. The prayers on this site may help.

2. Write or call your congressman and local government officials. Handwritten faxes and letters are the best; phone calls next; emails third in effectiveness. Be succinct. To learn how to contact your U.S. representative go to www.house.gov; to contact your U.S. senators, go to www.senate.gov. Link to sample letter.

3. Write letters to the editor. Bring your own unique experiences to bear to make a simple point. See links on this site for sample letters to the editor.

4. Get on talk shows. Phone into local and national shows-not just NPR, but commercial stations as well, to tell of your own reactions, a relevant incident, what an organization you belong to is doing. You can also add your comments on many websites. Our talking points may help.

5. Gather in groups. Don't let the television paralyze you into passivity. Gather at your place of worship, in your neighborhood, at work, at school to discuss your reactions. Give everyone a chance to speak and affirm the legitimacy of everyone's feelings. Plan actions that contribute to the relief and advocacy efforts of others and develop your own unique activities. This is a great time for singing — an inter-faith celebration of compassion and goodwill can help a lot!

6. Talk to the kids.. Talk to them straight at the level they can absorb and show your compassionate side. Turn off the TV and strictly limit their exposure to the endless images of violence and pain. A terrific book for the 10-15 year old set is Jingoby Terry Pratchett.

7. Sign a petition, join a rally. Numbers count! On this site you'll find a link to several excellent petitions. You may know of others. Sign on to something and join in events that send a big message.

8. Show support for people of color.People who look foreign are especially vulnerable at this time. Go to a Middle Eastern restaurant; talk with people of Arab descent; go to a mosque; join the growing movement to establish “Hate-free zones” in cities and towns across the country (for more information on Hate-Free Zones, see www.globalexchange.org).

9. Learn more.Learn about the Middle East, about responses to international crises, about international law and the appropriate responses to acts of terrorism. See analyses on this site. See also the website of the Institute of Policy Studies (http://www.ips-dc.org). And you can find much more at http://www.alternet.org and http://www.commondreams.org.

10. Take time to play, to laugh, and to enjoythe exquisite gift of life, to let your own soul be a source of goodness in this universe.

[Selatius]

1. It's hard to emulate 10 when you can't pay the fucking bills

We are a people who suffer from poverty of time.

So much of our year is devoted to working for our employers. Most people I have seen barely get two weeks paid vacation. Others get even less. The point is we spend most if not all of our time working away our lives. In the industrialized world Americans spend more hours working than even the Japanese; we are--I believe--at the top as far as average hours worked in a year, yet our wages are decreasing in the face of inflation and fierce foreign competition in a rigged race to the bottom.

We work so damn hard for so little.

I'm getting this new notion shoved into my head that your life should revolve around your work, that it should be intertwined with work. I'm rejecting that. Your life is yours to live; it's not somebody else's, certainly not your employer who may or may not truly give a damn about your wellbeing.

[realFedUp]

2. your rethinking your work is a good idea

Everyone needs to figure out how to restructure
their lives so they aren't living in empire, but
in earth communities.