"If there is a will, there is a way".
What do we will for,
as individuals?
As a collective?
What possibilities
do you see for your future?
Technology has enabled us to
make "money" in numerous,
unimaginable ways.
People are making "money"
from using child slave labor
to mine the minerals
to power your phone.
The phone, or tablet,
or kindle, or handheld device
that connects you
to your people, to your entertainment,
to your work, your life.
Do you know
what you hold?
"With great power, comes great responsibility".
Would you change
if meant becoming uncomfortable
if it was hard
if it meant sacrifice?
Where do you put
your effort
your sweat/tears
your blood
?
What
do you make "money" for?
Can you say it is for yourself,
your family,
your neighbor?
Do you neglect the plank
in your own eye
while you curse others
for the weight of theirs?
In the thirst of entrepreneurialism,
do we forget the perils of capitalism?
Can we continue to neglect
ourselves,
our communities,
the Earth?
Do we slack on the due diligence
of being a responsible denizen
in this amazing network of life?
Humans are not separate from nature.
We are one.
If "money" is your goal as an entrepreneur,
that is fine.
We all just want to be free of pain,
in the ways we know how
sometimes,
we just don't know
unaware & unawoken.
But it is short-sighted.
Plain as day,
humans will not survive
if we do not shape up
organize
and
evolve.
It is imperative,
in this very moment
to ask yourself
what have i done
for someone other than myself?
who is the last person who told you "i love you"?
who is the last person
you told that to?
Is there space
for you to show
empathy
compassion
kindness
?
Are you open to
filling that gap in their needs?
Can you extend that love
further and further
until you don't see any
hungry children,
homeless men,
murdered women
?
How long
will you further
dehumanize
your neighbor?
Is business
business
when it means
a broken world?
i say
we step into the light
and lower our hand
to lift those behind us.
use what we have now
and change it for the betterment
of all sentient beings
on this planet.
"Money"
is useless
when
the world is burning.
This poem took a life of its own as I wrote it, but I felt remiss if I did not leave you with any other explanations.
As an adult, it is expected to take on financial responsibilities, whether we are prepared for them or not.
In this search to accomplish these societally bequeathed quests, some of us find entrepreneurism.
I think the ability to "be your own boss" appeals to those unable to fit into the "9-5" lifestyle.
With the onset of the "Information Age", making money in a digital world has never been easier.
The wacky, unheard of ways that people have made massive incomes have always been around,
but now there are recording devices widespread. Instead of paying attention to the words,
the key is to pay attention to the action.
What do the wealthy do with their collective actions?
Hijack the world and cause needless pain and suffering in order to steal their way to opulence & frivolity.
In the quest of entrepreneurialism, I think it's important to remember not to follow that path for wealth 's sake
but for the benefit of you, your family, and community. We don't need "money" to do that.
Cryptocurrency has opened doors previously closed to those shut out of society,
those with overt fascist governments, those who are targeted by abusers & oppressors.
We can create a new world without tyranny, but we need to leave behind those mental artifices
that cause us to war instead of band together.
“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.
They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game,
but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.
Racism and homophobia are real conditions of
all our lives in this place and time.
I urge each one of us here to reach down into that
deep place of knowledge inside herself and
touch that terror and loathing
of any difference that lives here.
See whose face it wears.
Then the personal as the political
can begin to illuminate all our choices.”
-Audre Lorde