Changing the World

Where do you begin when you want to change the world? The catch-22 is that you need to change a system, but systems are created from multiple individual pieces—most of the time, people. The next catch, what system do you need to change? What really makes things the way they are? Is it natural? Is it genetic? Is it a specific construct—culture, politics, work, education?

How do we know that we’re doing the right thing in the first place? Here we are at status quo, let’s say we believe that everything would be better if everyone was genetically green in the color of their skin. We begin a campaign and lo and behold, eventually everyone is physically green. Everything is better, we have succeeded! But, unfortunately, this new pigmentation does not allow us to process sunlight in the same way as it did before increasing the detrimental effects of photo radiation and its new permeability with the environment makes us more susceptible to hitherto benign chemical toxins. This is an example of unforeseen effects to our changes. Back to the original question in this case, why is being green right (unless you’re Kermit the Frog)? Maybe we were multiple colors for a reason—we all started off dark, but some of us split off and lost our pigmentation, it was a natural course of events that was the result of and supports the infinite inter-relationships that create our universe. If you believe in multiverses or that anything is infinite, then what about all of the infinite possibilities of humankind—should they all be green too?

Now, I am not proposing that we throw up our hands and succumb to the seeming futility of our quixotic idealism. If you have the right mindset and drive, then you have no choice, you need to make a difference. The scope is up to you. How you rationalize it is up to you too. For me, I’d like to take it one person at a time. And don’t forget, start with yourself… ;)

--green brio