10 Things u must CHANGE today!

Well here are we are again! This is another episode if what you can call the  10 series, in which I present 10 things I discover to be interesting, impressive, or inspiring. You can read a previous post from the 10 series here. Now, I have had this post drafted since Oct 15th, but never really had the heart, energy or even the words to finish it until today. I felt there was something missing but with the events that have happened lately: Jeita, Lebanon vs. Korea soccer game, Allouch vs. Shokr's boxing match, university student related incidences and elections, GEW, $32 million paid to STL, power blackouts across Lebanon, MEA strike, and of course the consistent dismissal of citizens rights to a law that protects them against violence, have all left me thinking that this post can not be put off any longer. So here they are, in no particular order, 10 things we can no longer afford to maintain.

1. Ignorance: We can no longer afford not to know. Not nowadays and not anymore! You cannot live in a certain part of the world, and not understand what laws govern it, and how they might impact you. You cannot open a bank account without learning what the regulations and fees required are, purchase a product online without reading the fine print, or marry someone without meeting the family or friends. Since we were all born with the cells, nerves and blood circulation that enables each of us to learn, ignorance is therefore a choice. I firmly believe that you have the right to freely choose anything you want; however, I also believe that your choice is flawed if you have not considered its implications before hand. Ignorance is costly because it results in giving up your free will and ability to decide on your own. Lack of information means that you hand over different aspects of your life to someone else more knowledgeable than you, like a bank, a politician, a firm, an airline, MTCtouch, Alfa, a cab driver, the car dealer and so on and so forth… That’s a lot of people/ organizations controlling what should be YOUR life. You do not need to transform yourself into a Mr. / Mrs. Know_it_all, but at least be aware and constantly search for information and assess its credibility prior to taking or holding back action.

2.  Indifference: There is nothing more irritating than carelessness. You might think that you are only one person, and so you cannot cause a lot of harm or result in any good. But you and I both know that this in not true. Ghandi, Fairuz, John Lenon, and your teacher, each one of those is one person and yet they influenced you and the world in more ways than I can list here. I am not saying that you go on hunger strike, but while simple acts of compassion or consideration cannot cause radical change, they can incrementally make the world around you a little bit better and make you a bit more integrated with your community around you. We are social beings after all, social being derived from society, and therefore it’s simply unnatural to go around disconnecting yourself from what goes around.

3.  Parroting: Parrots are beautiful creatures, but here’s a newsflash: YOU ARE A HUMAN BEING! Which means you have brain cells that can accumulate and analyze information better than any other being out there. So I suggest you use them. If you were intended to repeat everything you have heard or seen without thinking about it or adding value to it, then you would have had two wings and lots of colorful feathers, living in the amazons or in someone's living room eating crackers. Successful people are those who add value, to everything they do, but especially to things they say. Words travel fast, and are used to judge your character often.  It is crucial then that you understand the importance of thinking about what to say and when to say it before you say it. Repetition is a great tool for memorizing, but what future employers, employees, even life partners are looking for is someone who can think for his/herself, has valuable input to share and can contribute to positive change instead of repeat and mimic inherent ideologies and concepts.

 

4. Tautness and Conformity: Adhering to the rulebook and implementing policy and procedure to a T, without questioning them, breeds nothing but underdeveloped capacity. Because only through questioning, discovering, exploring and exposing yourself to people, cultures and concepts beyond your comfort zone will you learn and improve. You think you are just being a good citizen, student or employee, or you might be too scared or too indifferent to rock the boat, but what you are really doing is building your own cage by limiting yourself and settling for conditions that are either unjust or at best, in severe need of improvement. Remember: "The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood." Martin Luther King, Jr.

5. Making fun of others: No one cares if you are a celebrity judge on Celebrity Duets, and no one cares in what context, whether funny haha, a wink or a simple hand gesture; making fun of people, regardless of their condition, reflects nothing but poor taste and cruelty. Making a habit of such a behavior turns the human soul mean, disrespectful and borderline racist. Now, if you do not care about your image, or your personal development as an individual, then you better at least worry about Karma, because it does not play nice with bad boys and girls.

6.  Over doing it: Now one can explains the importance of moving away from this behavior than the Apple Man himself:  “That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Steve Jobs, BusinessWeek, May25, 1998. The notion of keeping things simple, does not apply only to what you do, but also to how you react. Passionate, good, Drama queen, bad! Being polite is good, being a pushover sucks. And there is a fine line between generosity and waste generation!

7.  Chameleon: During our times, when people talk of a political, or a financial crisis, what they are really talking about is a crisis of trust. Organizations do not trust other organizations, CEOs do not trust their employees, and voters do not trust their politicians. Countrymen do not trust each other or trust their government… I guess you get the idea. It’s in these times, that being a credible individual is of the essence.  Being a person who is trustworthy that stands up for a certain set of values is what the world misses now more than anything. Sure you should be flexible and accept change, but that does not mean to shift your very core and stand for nothing. Changing colors every season is only good for the fashion industry.

8. No Pride: This one is easy, if you cannot take pride in what you do, slap your name on it, take a picture next to it, or you are too scared to be known for it… then for the love of all that you believe in, DO NOT DO IT. There is enough mediocrity in the world and more than enough noise.  The impact of putting a little effort, heart and thought into anything you do, can take you a long way. This applies to everything in life, your assignments at school or university, wrapping a gift for someone, cooking a meal, managing a project or even volunteering at your local NGO. Perfectionism? Why not, it can actually be good for you according to this.

9. Hold and Wait: Let’s face it, not all of us, can walk the talk. We don’t all have the same appetite to take risks, or embrace change and that’s fine! It’s normal. But to sit there and do nothing, but wait as a result, is a clear-cut death wish. Waiting for better economic conditions, more stable political climate, for a phone call, for a look, for an answer, for someone else to start, or for someone else to stop, for free time, or a bonus, is well… let me just say you have a better chance of seeing Godot drop by for a visit than achieving or acquiring anything you want in life. Sure you must allow for time to embrace changes, calculate risk, research information, but stagnation = death, and it is life that we should hold on to.

 

10. Whining: Doing nothing is bad enough, but whining while doing nothing, is torture. Pure torture! Venting your frustration is healthy, at least it avoids you developing ulcers at a very young age. Vent to a friend or a loved one for an hour, 3 hours, 2 days and then end it (in Lebanese خلصنا). Because as much as the person, suffering form a splitting headache by now, would love to help you, no one can help or change whatever current displeasing condition you are in better than you, simply because no one knows you more than you know yourself. Besides, whining is really a privilege, you are not entitled to whine about blackouts if you have voted for the wrong politician, you are not entitled to nag about how underpaid you are if you have not learned new skills, communicated them or at least looked vigorously for another job. If you are still not convinced, check out what others are saying about whining and how to get rid of it here.

Well that was it, 10! And none of them was intended to offense, depress or annoy anyone. The purpose of this post was solely to inspire change.  Not change of whom you are, but rather change towards more empowered individuals. Today, more so than ever, the world owes us nothing and excuses are so last century. There are examples of people who transform their realities and the realities of others every day, all around. So this is not just theoretical babble, but rather a call to rise up to the many occasions of change that surround us.

Hope from Hamra

Over and out 

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