conviction, right?

A catalyst for change won’t be a pretty thing. Seeing what’s happening in Europe, in our neighboring countries, and now with midterms in the US has me thinking about conviction. What is motivating enough to warrant change?

What prompted our neighbors to demand change, what started the protests and led to the election results, was the public outrage following a tragedy that took many young lives, and that could’ve been avoided had the government done its job.

The election results in the US seem to be a result of long-brewing unrest and dissatisfaction with the government’s foreign policy and domestic decisions that severely worsened quality of life. And this change, whatever is happening in one country, doesn’t exist in a bubble. It affects all of us.

It is a domino effect that slowly grows into something bigger. Something that will start the change we want to see.

It will take rage to create change.

Young people in my country are organizing protests now. They are motivated by what’s happening in other countries. They want to join that movement.

And that brings me back to conviction.

Protesting isn’t an aesthetic, or the “ever-lovely high to chase”, called aura-farming, that’s been coming out of my ears. That isn’t it.

We witnessed an awful tragedy this summer, when the wildfire destroyed entire residential areas, destroyed homes, and ultimately took six lives. Now, while the fire spread because of the weather, inaccessible terrain, and parched vegetation, it started and endangered people because of the failed fire warning system. The services failed to respond in time.

There’s your motivation. Your (local) government failed to set up systems that would protect its people. The aftermath of the fire that happened in the same area only a year before is still unresolved, and people have yet to receive compensation and help from the government.

And what about gas prices, food prices, and housing issues?

We let all of it slide. I feel like, compared with the movement happening abroad, we lack the conviction to actually demand change. We became a society that lets things happen to us.

Change won’t come easy, and it won’t happen overnight. And until we wake up, it won’t happen at all.

We are truly not angry enough, and it isn’t just a phrase to use to remind us of our dormancy. It’s a warning that keeps getting over everyone’s heads.

Last year, there was a notion to boycott stores to demand price reductions because of inflation, and what tanked that effort was the elderly, the senior citizens who said that they don’t need much anyway. They don’t buy much, just a few essentials. So they went to the store because it means nothing to them. Our youth went to the store and bragged about it because rage-baiting is a fun new activity.

They could brag about it because it gives them visibility online. It makes people engage. They don’t pay their own bills (yet).

See where I’m getting at with this?

Conviction. We lack the conviction to build the future we want to live. And if people want to be selfish, nobody is asking them not to be, but you are fighting for yourself.

Tomorrow, when you live a life barely making ends meet and have to give up on your dreams, on your free time, on all the things you wanted to have but can’t because you can’t afford them, because you can’t afford necessities, will you then be motivated enough?

The easy way out is always the easiest choice to make, but life isn’t easy.

So, are you happy with how things are right now?

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