Understanding Upheaval (with thanks to Margaret Mead)

Dr. Margaret Mead

More and more, I look beyond my own world to find meaning in the big picture, the whys behind the chaos and the presumed purpose of some of the actions I find wicked. We in the ASD world talk about bullies and bullying all the time, for surely we are often the innocent prey to awful predators. But it dawns on me that we are far from alone in being an underdog. In fact, I wonder if every human everywhere isn't vulnerable to something or someone's wrath or self-righteous sense of  'justice' that spits in the face of all that is good and reasonable. 

The world seems upside down to me right now. It feels like we are all characters in some low budget, slapped together B movie about spiders invading the planet. I look around both in my small space of the world and beyond to the trials and tortures going on around the globe, and I want to vomit back the horrors I see, before they stick in my gut and make me invulnerable to their repulsiveness. 

I admit I have a limited sense of how to fix anything, much less the world's cruelties. I try to use this forum and my outspoken nature to share simple thoughts that might find a way to grow, in a grassroots way, to mean something positive to someone out there in our big vast universe.  When I am completely perplexed by the goings on of humans, when I am desperate to find a temperate spot among the cracks and ruins of humanity, I read up the words of  one of the first and certainly one of the most influential cultural anthropologist's of the 20th Century, Margaret Mead. (1901-1978). 

Mead is one of my heroes. I strongly suspect she was an aspie, at least I hope so. (Look up her role in the world of Semiotics and see if you don't agree!) No matter her neurosystem, she has brilliant things to say about individuals and society and our symbiosis. Maybe Dr. Mead's words will help you come to terms with all the crazy circling our bones right now. Read below and see what you think.

Favorite Margaret Mead quotes:

I must admit that I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an individual makes to her or his fellow human beings.

Our first and most pressing problem is how to do away with warfare as a method of solving conflicts between national groups within a society who have different views about how the society is to run.

If we are to achieve a culture rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

Never depend upon institutions or government to solve any problem. All social movements are founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals.

If the future is to remain open and free, we need people who can tolerate the unknown, who will not need the support of completely worked out systems or traditional blueprints from the past.

The notion that we are products of our environment is our greatest sin; we are products of our choices.

#violence, #war, #society #Mead