Change where I stand

From a conversation with @Winkletter – “The folly of my youth was thinking I can change the world. Now I just change where I stand.”

I thought I could contribute to the nation, to those in need. Change how public policy is made, how social equity was distributed, how services could reach more people in need, how charity can run better, how government sees citizens and how citizens see the government, and basically, to better the country I grew up in.

But after more than ten years sweating out in the field, sitting in boardrooms, working in government offices, I know, nothing really changes. The system feeds itself, runs on its own momentum and intent. By design. You can only every so slightly nudge it, if even. Most of the time, you are just a drop in the ocean of gears and machinery set up to fulfil it’s own purpose, and incentivize itself, not citizens, not outcomes. The government is rich, but the people are not.

That final nail in the coffin - seeing how they handled COVID. That was it.

Now I just change where I stand. I stand for myself and my family. Not country, not community, not common good.

I relocate, I earn dollars from elsewhere, I do the minimum to contribute back.

It was never a reciprocal relationship with the state, anyway. They need you more than you need them. But they don’t need me in particular, as there’s always others willing to be needed by them.

I stand now, for myself.