Ships Amongst The Sea of Life

We are the captains of our ship, a metaphor for life, and when someone takes that away from us, we must retake our ship. Our ship is all we have–it is not only our independence, our freedom, our human nature, but it is our soul. The very essence of our life and very existence upon this rock. It is not only our duty to protect our ship, and protect the ships of others, but to aim that at proper ends, to protect and promote a society and government of ships, where they the flourishment of the individual, and the whole are in communion.

People more than ever feel disconnected from the government, from each other, and even from broader society. As a whole, humanity feels an apocalyptic sense of hopeless sadness. We doubt our reality and pull back into our own closed-off worlds. We hide in our phones and take solace in the wormhole of social media, making a feeble attempt to “reassure ourselves.” Social media becomes a digital fentanyl that consumes us in every sense of life, taking hold because of our dissatisfaction with life itself.

The political system has capitalized on society’s fragility and has made us victims of their malicious desire for power. Politicians have bled our power dry, forcing us to be cogs in their machine. They convinced us that we have little influence over the agendas set by both Republicans and Democrats, on all levels of government: federal, state, and even local. Our democracy is actively being stripped from us by the evil people in power. Our “representatives” are to blame for starting this modern perversion of democracy, but we are to blame as well. We have tolerated their behavior and have not fought back. We have not attempted to change the system or ourselves. We have forfeited our power to them–which allowed corruption and turned us into victims; however, all is not lost. The system is designed for change and is designed to represent the will of the people. By pressuring positive and pragmatic change, we can bring the system back to virtue and represent the actual will of the people. We, the people, with this platform, can give the United States the rebirth back to freedom that Abraham Lincoln spoke about at Gettysburg: “that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Hay Copy).

This is a large order, one that is seemingly impossible. One that seems to require pushing the weight of the world uphill. However, that is precisely why we must undertake this task–it is our duty to. With the seemingly never ending evil, chaos, and violence in our world, we cannot continue to allow ourselves to be victims; rather, we must find courage and hope within ourselves in order to project that onto society. It is through this that we can begin to make systematic change. When we believe in ourselves and our ability to make change, we end the cycle of enabling behavior that allows evil to persist.

The world needs saving, and there is no one coming to save it. There is no one to answer the call but you. The world only changes when we strive to change it. It is the flap of a butterfly’s wings that forms a hurricane, in the same way that our actions can change the entire fate of the universe forever. We must strive toward virtue, dream boldly, and work arduously for a better tomorrow: a tomorrow where those left on the outskirts of society are cared for as if the whole fate of humanity relies on it, where we seek change in all capacities and walks of life.

We have all experienced loss, suffering, pain in many ways, and even death. It is when we bear in mind how bravely we were capable of bearing that loss that we are commanded to live. It is at these times that to lie is an act of bravery. To strive for change is the bravest thing we can do in modernity.

How is this achieved? It requires a complete rewiring of what we know, how we view the world, and how we view ourselves within that world. It is difficult work that requires effort and a unique type of struggle, though these struggles and challenges are intrinsically good and fulfilling in the highest form. When done well, our lives are more complete regardless of how far we moved the needle. We must be concerned with how finite our lives are. We only have one life that is fleeting and disappearing as we speak. You will die. I will die. We all will die. The only question is, will we die lives of fulfillment and of changing the world, or will we die lives that are meaningless, hiding in our rooms under the sheets behind the screen?

It is imperative to remember that power lies in you and I. Power structures only exist if we subscribe to them, and we are only powerless if we believe that we are. If we reject this proposition and work towards something more, we become the most powerful souls of the universe.

The following articles and reflections are targeted at developing statesmen and statecraft. In order to develop a better world, we need a better society, which needs a better government. To achieve these goals, we need proper statescraft, which is tied directly to statesmanship rooted in the development of the individual. It all starts with you and me. These articles seek to dive into the intricacies of being a human person in order to address the larger issues that face modernity.

AS