Man is a Demon, Man is God

       Have you ever felt that you are a drop in a massive ocean that no matter what you do the current will never change. A single voice in a yelling crowd? Spending time traveling and learning new things everyday from the people I am around I feel so insignificant for affecting any change. Sometimes I learn about something, a pollution or poverty issue, and there are so many alternatives to change the outcome and impact such pollution or poverty has on a specific population or the world at large. Then it just hits me like a tidal wave; the fact that no matter what I do or say will change the way things are, the way people will always greed for resources and money. 

I was always taught as a child that even though I may only be one drop in a vast ocean, every single drop raises the sea level. That change is possible, and one voice speaking the truth can change the way things are. Traveling through these countries I see so much injustice, so many issues, and to many environmental problems that could all be changed if only people cared a little more. Today I learned about the working conditions on cruise ships, and the environmental impact of cargo ships on our precious ocean. That tidal wave of defeat hit again. How can I as an individual change the way I consume to not support these unjust and environmentally destructive industries. I cannot. I can reduce, reuse, and recycle, but at the end of the day no matter how hard I try I will always have to utilize something that is created or transported from such industries. 

That is when the realization came. As I was reading the phrase immediately resonated with me: Man is a Demon, Man is a God. Both are true, humankind has so much potential and creation power, yet we take everything for granted and hardly look at the consequences of our progressive actions. My new challenge is not to get frustrated and create a commotion about environmental issues I see, but to learn how to forgive, and simply be the best person I can be through balance within my own heart and soul. This is my next goal: to attain such balance through meditation. I am slowly learning that the key to true happiness and balance is meditation. Realization and true awareness is difficult because you see the world in all it glory, but you also see all the destruction. Sometimes while I have been watching in all these countries the destruction is much more prominent than the beauty. It is now time for me to work on balance, that way I can begin to see equal parts of beauty and pain. It is all the same, it is simply how the brain chooses to perceive it.