Changing the World: Working WITH the System, or Against it?

Although I'm sure most so-called revolutionaries are pretty sincere people who genuinely want to see change happen, I can't help but be amused by most of them.

Maybe I just see these revolutionaries through the perspective of being a bit of a caricature, but it seems like they are pouring all their energies into change, but very little of their energy is going into the "change into WHAT, exactly" part of the equation.

Admittedly, my own approach to changing things tends to have been somewhat passive. That is, I tend to work inside a system, gradually getting to understand it, and then working with that system and the tools it inevitably does offer to change it from within, rather than actively trying to smash it down from the front.

You could call me a covert revolutionary...

Desert skies

Not so long ago, I saw a fair amount of intellectual posturing and silliness here in our local community where certain people were getting all up in arms over the government stimulus payments that came out. I'm not sure if it was a matter of pride or ego or political leanings or something else, but there were actually people out there who announced "I'm not taking no government handout!"

And they were actually going to be going out there waving placards in a demonstration protesting getting a check from the government.

You didn't see such protest from me. Of course, we really needed the money, so we could pay our taxes. Ironic, that.

At the same time, even if we had not been financially strapped, I would have been thinking "well this is great; all right you're gonna give me some money so I'm gonna take that money and use it in a way that helps me create a better world that partly reduces YOUR influence."

Couldn't those "protestors" have done a lot more good by just donating the money to a homeless shelter, if they so sincerely didn't want it?

Maybe I'm just not very principled.

Joshua Tree National Park, California

Unless something truly heinous is happening, I tend to put pragmatism ahead of principles most of the time.

A friend of mine, many years ago, described me as a "shameless opportunist."

Opportunist, meaning that whatever an opportunity presents itself I just tend to seize and run with it rather than sit around engaging in extensive moral and intellectual masturbation and other justifications for it. I'm definitely not afraid to take government money for reasons of pride or principle — I see that payment just as "found money" that is little different than coming across a $3.00 trinket at Goodwill and then turning around and selling it on eBay for $300.00.

It's an opportunity; It's not against the law; I see it; I take it; I use it. And if I am wise and discerning, I might be able to make the world a little bit better as a result of my actions.

In this particular case, I used the government so-called "handout" to make myself a little less dependent on the government, meaning I am now not homeless and on public assistance. Last year, I took the stimulus payments and used the money to expand our food growing garden, thereby making it less likely we'd need food stamps in an uncertain time. How the hell can that be a bad thing?

Thanks for reading, and have a great final few days of your week!

How about YOU? What "type" of revolutionary are you? What is your personal approach to bringing about change? Do you put your principles ahead of common sense? Or do you not view it in such a way? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210325 23:33 PDT
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