{"id":2466,"date":"2013-03-24T23:59:48","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T04:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/?p=2466"},"modified":"2013-03-24T23:59:48","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T04:59:48","slug":"conscious-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/general\/conscious-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"Conscious Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

On February 26, 2013, I posted back-to-back tweets from my Twitter account, @CGAyling<\/a>.\u00a0 The first stated:-<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial conscience: recognizing injustice. {widely encouraged}<\/em><\/strong>\u201d,<\/p>\n

the second,<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial Activism: acting on your social conscience. {widely discouraged}<\/em><\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

A growing sense of inequity, prompted these thoughts.<\/p>\n

In my youth, fortune smiled on me.\u00a0 The middle child of seven, my first memories are from our life in an extremely small village named Melsetter.\u00a0 Melsetter is located in the scenic Eastern Highlands of a place now mired in tragedy, and renamed Zimbabwe.\u00a0 In Melsetter, my father held a position of influence and my mother one of mystique \u2013 least those were my perceptions, for how else does a very young child raised in the security of a loving family see their parents?<\/p>\n

Fortune\u2019s pendulum swung.<\/p>\n

Misfortune widowed my mother, leaving her to raise seven children.\u00a0 While we lacked for things material, we never lacked for love.\u00a0 My Godfather stepped into my life and assumed the figure of father for me, while never presuming to replace my deceased father.\u00a0 The world seemed fair and equitable \u2013 a place of dignity, with difference assumed, and respected. \u00a0In my Godfather\u2019s care, I learnt of conscience, and of deed.\u00a0 He taught me that for conscience to hold any moral value, one must act upon it, with deeds.<\/p>\n

A decade passed, my Godfather moved to Spain, and a terrible war ravaged my peaceful land.\u00a0 I served on the losing side, volunteering for service before my scheduled conscription into the Rhodesian Army.<\/p>\n

Why did I volunteer?\u00a0 From a powerful sense of social activism \u2013 I knew Rhodesia was doomed to fall before the onslaught of communist backed terrorists.\u00a0 (Terrorists is what we called them then, and terrorists is what they have proved to be.)\u00a0 My conscience goaded me to act in defense of a homeland whose demise was imminent, and inescapable. \u00a0Following my Godfather\u2019s lesson, I acted on my conscience and decided to volunteer for Military Service. \u00a0Widespread disapproval met my little act of possibly misguided activism.\u00a0 Teachers drew me aside and told me that all I had to do was wait, the end of conscription was as hand \u2013 just as soon as Rhodesia lost the war.<\/p>\n

Even within my family, my decision met with powerful disapproval. \u00a0My three older brothers, already undertaking their National Service, each urged me to reconsider.\u00a0 My mother cried, something I have very rarely seen.\u00a0 Although shocked at my family\u2019s lack of support, within my heart I knew that their admonishments were in attempt to protect me from very likely harm.\u00a0 When my mother perceived I would not relent and intended to serve, she urged me to join Internal Affairs, the Airforce, or the Police \u2013 all alternative forms of National Service instead of the Army, and all with far less risk of combat.\u00a0 However, my wish was to fight for my country, not serve in another less active role.\u00a0 I joined the Army, attended the School of Infantry, and ultimately received my wish.<\/p>\n

Be careful what you wish for \u2013 for sometimes wishes are granted.<\/p>\n

Looking back through hindsight\u2019s rose tinted spectacles, I question much of what I believed at that time.\u00a0 It turns out that truth is not absolute \u2013 it is nothing more than our perception of available information. \u00a0However, whether I did the right thing is not the point of this post \u2013 the point, is that I acted on my social conscience.<\/p>\n

Question your conscience, to be sure its motivation seems pure, and then act on it.\u00a0 Even if only to yourself, you will make a difference \u2013 and remember, change begins at home.<\/p>\n

<<<-0->>><\/p>\n

While you’re here, please take a look around my blog, you’re sure to find something to promote thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 26, 2013, I posted back-to-back tweets from my Twitter account, @CGAyling.\u00a0 The first stated:- \u201cSocial conscience: recognizing injustice. {widely encouraged}\u201d, the second, \u201cSocial Activism: acting on your social conscience. {widely discouraged}\u201d. A growing sense of inequity, prompted these thoughts. In my youth, fortune smiled on me.\u00a0 The middle child of seven, my first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19,90,210,254,277,358,388],"class_list":["post-2466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-activism","tag-conscience","tag-inequity","tag-melsetter","tag-national-service","tag-rhodesia","tag-social-conscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}