Martian Thoughts

Together

We can agree that one of the essential aspects of growing up is the acceptance that our actions have consequences. As we mature, we come to terms with the fact that these consequences are as much ours as our actions. Error by error, we learn to adjust and anticipate. Mostly, we learn to pay for our mistakes as much as we do for the goods we purchase from a merchant.

Indeed, if we didn’t reach this minimum level of adulthood, society would kick us out and ask us to come back once we’ve acquired the basics. Sadly, most of us stay in this phase. The next logical step is to accept that the consequences of our actions are not only ours. We can act alone – and we constantly do – but we affect those around us. In our age, we can affect almost anybody anywhere on the planet. Yet, we struggle pathetically to understand this essential element of life in society.

There is something deeply discomfiting about being responsible for pain and damage we didn’t intend. Believing in our inherent right to freedom is much easier. Thus, we have freedom fighters who spend their time and effort curtailing other people’s freedoms. Thus, we have corporations responsible for endless misery allowed to continue to do so with barely a slap on the wrist. Thus, we find ourselves diving headfirst into environmental disaster without much more than a nonplussed shrug for a reaction.

It’s about time we get our shit together.