Sunday's Monday's Op-Ed: When Good People Are Caught Up In Bad Systems

What happens when people with good intentions are caught up in bad systems? What happens when an attorney who entered their profession to help justice prevail finds out that the “justice” system is far from just? What happens when the teacher who becomes an educator with designs on helping to positively mold the future learns that the curriculum that he or she is mandated to teach is in fact poisonous to the minds of the youth? What happens when a newbie politician who wants to help the community discovers that their political peers are no where near the squeaky clean images that they portray; Instead they are power-hungry vultures who couldn’t care less about their constituents, and are unwilling to be allies in helping those who are in need? What about the entertainer who wishes to share their talents with the world, and finds out that they are merely a pawn in a manipulation maneuver to hypnotize the masses? This list of hypothetical questions could go on and on until it would rival the number of pages contained in a phone book. There are countless rude awakenings for many of us who are brashly educated in the systems we are caught up in.

Knowledge can be akin to that knick-knack that is a box within a box within a box. There are different levels to knowledge and information, some of which can be invisible to the naked eye. Only with deeper exploration is more knowledge revealed; and that’s only if we’re lucky enough to have the privilege to get closer to the real truth. Sometimes we are just doomed to ignorance. On the flip side of things, the cliche “Ignorance is bliss” acknowledges that with knowledge comes the burden of responsibility- which is no lightweight load to carry.

Once a person who has good intentions realizes that they are caught up in a putrid system, heavy decisions must be weighed. Will the person become: Ineffectively jaded, a crusader, an individual who decides to turn a blind-eye to the wrongs, an organizer for the better good, a person who “abandons ship” and tries to forget that they were ever there, or join the wrong-doers in a show of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” This is a conflict that can become a real Heroes vs. Villains vs. Cowards proposition. What is your criteria for distinguishing who is who?

With so many American (and Global) systems failing the masses of people on so many levels, one can only concluded that too many villains, cowards, and villains disguised as heroes are running loose. This world isn’t too overt-hero friendly. A quick glance at history and present-day examples can confirm this. However, that doesn’t mean that heroic changes can not be implemented in today’s society.

While I enjoy a great heroic tale as much as (if not more than) the next person, grand heroics aren’t necessarily necessary to stop the proliferation of life-destructive systems. Once people stop feeding a system (good or bad), it will die. We must be aware of what types of systems we are a part of and how we are fortifying them. Once we are aware, we have to realize who has the real power. THE PEOPLE DO!

If we collectively withdraw from the system it will die! The manipulators who set up and control the corrupted systems are well aware of this. One glaring example of this is Marcus Garvey’s “Back To Africa” Campaign.

At one of the heights of America’s covertly racists eras, Marcus Garvey was prompting Black Americans to migrate to Africa. If America truly hated Black people and found us as unnecessary and “worthless” as they proclaimed people of African descent in America to be, they would have cheered on Marcus Garvey’s efforts. They would have jumped at the opportunity to rid the country of masses of people that they had branded as undesirable. Of course, this didn’t happen. Instead the American government attacked Marcus Garvey for his plan, and branded him as an enemy of the country. Governmental forces quickly attempted to take Garvey down, hoping that his ideas hadn’t spread too widely. From this situation, one can only logically reason that America desperately NEEDED the very people that they deemed unworthy. So I ask: Who has the real power? We are no where near as impotent as we have been lead to believe. Please remember this as you go through your day confronting putrid systems.

Lots of Love,

Elsie Law aka Starface

[SIDEBAR: I usually like to post my Op-Ed pieces on Sunday morning. However, due to my brief blog hiatus; I didn't post anything yesterday.]