When the Occupy Wall Street Movement began in September 2011, I started on an “Accidental Journey of Discovery.” I was interested in what was happening on a political level, but what I have learned and gained from this newfound interest, is a wealth of knowledge and personal growth that I never expected.
My journey began on my couch. I was not interested in politics, but I knew I had a disconnect and discomfort toward our out-of-control government. While I started to pay attention to the new vocabulary that was being used, I began to see things in a new light. I began to see the onionskin of modern life begin to peel away. I began to see past the forest of distractions that are common in our society. What I noticed is a connection to the past. After transcending through the fog of my own modern bias, I started to feel connected to the thinking and intent of American citizens that were here before us. Without the distractions of our modern life, the problems of the past are ageless and are what we still face today. Simply put, if you can’t eat, you can’t eat. It doesn’t matter what era you happen to live in.
As the political climate began to change I began to feel uneducated in basic civics. I couldn’t really understand some of the outrage because I was ignorant of what the outrage was targeting. So, quite by accident, I became educated in civic matters. I did not know what to expect when I started, but I knew I had to keep a clean, dry erase board in my mind, to start a new compilation of mental growth. I figure we are at the Millennium, which presents a fork in the road. We are basically choosing in these next 20 years, in which way the human race will proceed for the next 500 years. If you think of it like that, our choices matter—being involved in the decision-making process matters.
The Occupy Wall Street Movement rose from the street as does all popular movements. It evolved on its own and has learned on its own. As I, the individual, learn about how the Federal Government works, the Movement learns how to build a solid core, through social networks and streaming technology. As I learn about tax codes and the history of our banking system, the Movement is learning how to govern itself and teach itself. That’s the progression of things—how it works when you are awakened to a new way of thinking, and how a grassroots effort becomes it’s own entity. It’s an organic process—for and by the people.
The Movement isn’t an institution telling those who want to be a part of it how to think or feel; it’s dynamic and ever changing. It is clever, as it knows how to use the tools at hand in an unprecedented era of technology in order to be sustaining; it will not go away. Like the colonist in the tavern who was once loyal to the King, the problems of the ruling class are still the same. We must choose the level at which we are to be governed, and the citizens have a duty to audit their choices.
Personally, I have awoken in a sense, from an ignorant sleep. I let the world slip by without my say, without me bearing witness. What’s hard about it is that I now have a new anxiety. I feel a different burden now, then I felt before.
As my good friend Tony put it, “it’s like eating the pill in the Matrix. Once you eat it you cant go back.”
What’s incredibly awesome about it is that this is good anxiety. Its anxiety that comes from knowledge and ability to affect change; it is not an anxiety that controls me like the effortless ignorance did previously. And with this anxiety I have journeyed through the land of Philosophy, History, Civics, Law, Banking, Sociology, and many others. I have crash-landed in the world of self-education and self-respect.
I have lost some friends after revealing my activism, but the friends and allies that I have met on this expedition make me a richer man. Some new friends and I have started a discussion group to talk freely, without bias, and it has been a rewarding way to turn what I’ve learned into a tangible, forward-thinking experience. My point is this: You may not agree with me, but you can learn from me. Investigate your beliefs, or lack-thereof. It’s one thing to wax poetic on Facebook without knowledge, or worse, ignore the world in favor of your couch—take that ignorance, or disinterest and educate it. I can personally attest—it matters.
