thoughts

About Changing the World

The world is a train with three kinds of people. Those riding along, those standing in the fields where it runs by, and those very few who sets the pace, and decides where it stops.

Politics is keeping the train running. Clean, efficient, fast. Deciding who gets on, and who do not.

Education. If you want on board, you need a ticket, and you need to find a station, stand in queue like everyone else. You then get on, find your seat, and follow the rules.

Try to get on without a ticket? You could grab on when it drives by. But you better be prepared to hold on tight, for if your grip slips, you will get hurt. And even then, you are still stuck on the outside. Breaking your way in is bound to make people angry and distressed. You could sneak in when the train stops? Even if you get in, without breaking a window, you will still be hated. Fined and thrown off, if you get caught. In the train world, no one rides for free.

So, instead you find a group, and you try to storm the train? You manage to get in, capture a railcar, for you and your equal minded, only to realize that nothing has changed? The train simply continues on the same old tracks. You are on board, but have as little control as ever, still no freedom. Time to take over the whole god damn train then, the front car? Revolution!

And then you realize, that even those in control, have no power to change much but the speed, and who gets a ticket.

So, how do you change the world? Without derailing the train altogether?

Well, you could build a new track, convince people that it is better, and hope that the leadership of the train sees it and decides to change tracks? Or maybe try to force them to switch?

Let us imagine you succeed. The train switches to the new and better track. In a blink of an eye, everyone forgets the old, and You are simply driving along once again... Did anything really change but the view?

Ideology; a new faster track, switching lanes, new schedules. Progress; A new train model, a new engine, a paint job, but still just a train.

The train needs constant fuel, or else it stops. The leaders are those who make sure there is fuel enough, and the tickets are payed for.

Getting more people on? Cram more people in, or add more cars. The first makes for a miserable ride, the other only makes the train heavier and consume more fuel.

What we need as humanity is something different? Freedom for everyone to choose their own path, to go where they want. No tickets, no tracks. No need to constantly fuel the train.

The dream of the free train with no tickets? That everyone can get on and off as they please? How would we all fit, and how would we pay to keep it running?

Could we not just walk? Too slow...?

And then the question: Why do we need to keep moving? Why are most of us so afraid of stopping?

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Notes: On government: A good train company is one who works to make the ride as pleasant as possible, and provide steady schedules that people can trust in. Not about freedom, but safety and predictability.