Ele Ludemann: Change starts with us

The ugliness and danger of political violence and intolerance were shown this week, first with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and then in the reaction to it from people who couldn’t look past views with which they disagreed; people who reacted to the death with gleeful he-deserved-its; people who couldn’t see past their own ideology to the common humanity.

That reaction is due, at least in part, to the failure to understand the importance of free speech, the need to tolerate ideas we don’t share and might abhor and to use words not weapons.

If the damage that is resulting from that is to be repaired, it needs change and that change starts with each of us.

An unknown monk who wrote this reputedly realised that on his death bed:

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.

I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town.

I couldn’t change the town, and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realise that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.

My family and I could have made an impact on our town.

Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.

We can’t wait to change on our death beds, that’s too late.

The need for change is urgent, that change has to start with each of us, and it has to start now.

And it can be as simple as this :



Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.