Not what I was intending to write.
Sitting in Chinese language class in grade 8, our teacher had decided to set the class up in a circle. We were to discuss some of the phrases we had been learning, and were to role play using them in actual conversation. It was a class of misfits, students who weren’t entirely interested in learning. We were known to cheekily mess with each other, to the teachers detriment. So once again, our recently graduated from university teacher had left the room to grab the level two teacher because of someones misdemeanours, and there was a moment of silence. Suddenly one of the stronger of the boys grabbed a class mate and pulled him onto the floor and yelled ‘stacks on!’ Without thinking, almost the entirety of the class jumped on. The last few having to climb on chairs to make it to the top. We were in stitches of laughter and strange glee when the stern faced level two teacher arrived and started yelling.
Humanity is like this a lot of the time. We are easily led when it suits us. This can also be seen in and out of the school yard in bullying, fashion trends, racism, genocide and even to a lesser extent political party loyalties. We have internalised knee jerk reactions that take little influence by a charismatic leader to get us moving. Sometimes we can;t even explain our actions much later. We start thinking about our previous actions and can understand that we did join in, but that in a different circumstance we can’t explain why. Reading through accounts from wars in bosnia, Rwanda, Germany – quite sane people get themselves in positions of strange passion.
This type of muted pack mentality seems to run through how we decide who to govern us. We can mostly examine and come to the conclusion that binge drinking, smoking, irresponsible driving, divided households, slavery, prostitution, poverty and oppression are all detrimental in some way to long and comfortable lives. We have seen all the tv ads and billboards of legs and lungs and eyes destroyed by smoking. We have watched friends and family go through hard times hand in hand with booze. Some of us have had friends die unfairly of car accidents. Some of us are form divided families or have seen the effects of them at school and work. All of us will usually feel that tug on the heart strings when poverty is filmed in movies or in real life when we travel.
Death is seen, and seldom understood, and even less expect it. But death seems to breed even more death. How many of us gain bad news and immediately attempt to make our livers explode with alcohol poisoning. We destroy ourselves in packs. and derive much permission from groups around us. As we find more and more groups that agree with our death encouraging behaviours, we then form political aspirations that inform our governments of our wants. As we gain more and more freedom through united agreement, we find more and more ‘liberty’ from rules that we determine conflictive to free lives. In theory, in a democracy where everyone gets a voice, then the loudest will be listened too. The largest group more convinced of a certain truth will inherently run this town.
So then lets look at our current worldview. The glasses we look through existence with. We currently sit in a place in history that has come to the conclusion collectively that truth doesn’t exist. Our high schools teach it. That we are all accidents with no real purpose or destiny. Our universities teach it, that there is nothing solid about knowledge, everyone gets to choose their own values and truth. And therefore our citizens come to the same conclusion and vote in a similar fashion. In some countries one can find so much apathy that it is a small percentage of the population that actually chooses who governs. This small percentage is easy to convince. Other countries are forced to vote, so human creativity then becomes a tool to see how to donkey vote the best.
I myself have come to a conclusion that, if one of only two parties or going to win, and both parties are led by immature babies, then i refuse to vote for either. And what happens when a whole country of good men do nothing and stay silent? More and more of our nations will be led by men and women who don’t know truth, therefore don’t know justice, therefor can’t actually do any of their job well. These men and women will also be controlled by the voter to keep their job, so the convictions they earlier held disappear, and in Australia at least, the two parties become almost too similar to tell apart.
Coming from a very passionate and vocal politically minded family, its been funny watching the pack mentality in my own life. When I was young, I would unthinkingly side with my fathers thinking. I would argue for his side of political thought, instinctively hating the other guy and labelling him almost of the devil. Hearing other people tote their own families side without thinking, and even going the next step of hearing both American and Australian conservatives painting the right as Gods political party is farcical. The party Jesus would vote for has always made me internally laugh. Our pack mentality means that a whole swathe of voters jump on band wagons without thinking. Without researching. Without really choosing. Once again, as good people do nothing, evil prevails. And i don’t say that to label either party as evil. But as we cease effecting ownership over who leads us we give someone else the choice. and we can take the road of ‘i don’t care if others get the choice’, but our children might.
I live in the greatest country on the planet. But we don’t really know who we are, we don’t really know who we want to be, and we have no clue what truth is.
And God asks us to pray. To vote yes, to research yes, to educate our children to be smart citizens yes. But God spoke quite clearly pray for your leaders and it will go well for you. Of all people on the planet our leaders need the most prayer.
For wisdom, discernment, peace, revelation, knowledge, strong leadership, grace etc etc.
donteattrash 