The Elders

The definition of an ELDER is “a leader, one having authority by virtue of age and experience, a person valued for their wisdom.”

In the past, people from various cultures would go to their elders asking for guidance, inspiration, or to obtain knowledge. The Indians did this. African cultures would do this. Asian countries highly value their elders. Somewhere along the way we, as Americans, have forgotten this. We value youth over age. We do not respect the old ways of thought. We do not respect each other. We think only of ourselves. We don't care about other's needs. I believe this method of thought is leading to the degradation of our society.

I have recently learned of a group called THE ELDERS. In 1948, after World War II, the Holocaust, and Hiroshima at a time when the world had reached a horrific low in terms of humanity, a group led by Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was implemented by the United Nations. This was a visionary guideline of humanitarian consciousness meant for the world to follow. You can read this declaration, sign the petition, and receive email notifications regarding global humanitarian efforts at www.everyhumanhasrights.org.

In 2008, 60 years later and at another time of global unrest, Nelson Mandela started a group called THE ELDERS. This is a select assemblage of seasoned political figures who no longer have constituencies to please, lobbies to influence them, or religious organizations to satisfy, they can speak freely and of their own accord in support of a worldly cry for humanity. They oppose slavery and torture, they support the rights of women and minorities, and they strive for world peace. You can view an introduction to THE ELDERS below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yb8f_tudDI

The elders include:

Kofi Ahnan

Ela Bhatt

Lakhdar Brahimi

Gro Brundtland

Fernando H. Cardoso

Jimmy Carter

Graca Machel

Mary Robinson

Desmond Tutu

Muhammad Yunus

Honorary Elders include:

Nelson Mandela

Aung San Suu Kyi

The Elders are leading the way in support of equal rights for every human being. They inspirationally speak out for freedom from fear and harm, for children's education, for healthcare, and for minorities. They think it is wrong for us to spend astronomical amounts of our dollars on defense, when a small percentage of that money could be used to clothe and feed people, and provide clean drinking water and basic needs for every human on our planet. I believe this is the right thing to do - it is an investment in our society, it provides avenues for us to grow and prosper as a global community, and that any person who would oppose this way of thought is focusing primarily on greed.

In addition, I believe that conservative, right wing, religious right "Christians", if they really did look at their Bible, would agree that this way of thought is what God would want us to do. However, these same people seem to oppose entirely this way of thought. This boggles my mind! They say they support "family values" and tithe at church, yet they don't want their taxes raised to provide funding for anything including our children's educational systems. They speak out against Obama speaking to our youth in schools (George Bush did this when he took office) to inspire them to work hard so they can succeed in life - so they're supporting censorship and opposing freedom of speech. They oppose abortion supporting it with God's commandment of "Thou shalt not kill" yet they are for the right to bear arms and support Bush's war. They compare Obama to Hitler and oppose health insurance reform and spread lies about "death panels" allowing politicians influenced by corporate insurance lobbyists to promote fear among citizens so health care reform is not passed. These hypocritical viewpoints drive me to the breaking point. In all honesty, I believe that if you really are religious, then you really would be a democrat - democrats have instituted virtually every means of governmental assistance to the poor and to minorities alike. After The Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt (famous for the quote, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself.") implemented social security and welfare to assist the poor. Lyndon B. Johnson began The Great Society, whose purpose was to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. He also implemented medicare and medicaid, forms of "socialized medicine". These pugnacious republican leaders support the contentious dispositions of far-right media moguls like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck who spread lies and hate and rile up belligerent townhall citizens to badger speakers at events meant to inform and answer questions the public has regarding these issues, yet so much heckling is being done, we're no longer listening to the issues at hand. Instead of getting anything productive done, we're all whining like 3 year olds.

One of my friends who was attending NYU Law School once told me that he had learned that in order for government to function, there cannot be chaos. The masses must function like "sheep" to follow a certain way of thought. (Interesting that congregations refer to their followers as sheep as well, huh?) The dumbing down of our society has allowed this form of government to thrive. Where are the intelligent media personalities to question this type of authority and its practices? They are more concerned with entertainment than facts. And more importantly, why are the moderate republicans allowing this type of behavior to continue? Why don't they speak out? Why doesn't one of them take the reins and stand up to the radical crazy people in their party, and work towards good for the people? They could contribute to saving the face of their party. That is someone I could respect. I guess it is due to the fact that these fear tactics work on so many people - they know that it works, so they let it continue, so they can passively institute their own agendas. What a sad state of affairs.

I believe we need the knowledge from The Elders now more than ever. I've always had a strong connection and interest in old Indian cultures. I find this Hopi Indian Elder's account of an ancient world prophecy to be interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7cylfQtkDg

Hopefully, we will be smart enough to change and focus on getting things done for the good of our world and all of it's people as a whole.