"I must tell you that I should really like to think there's something wrong with me - because, if there isn't, there there's something wrong with the world itself - and that's much more frightening! That would be terrible. So I'd rather believe there is something wrong with me, that could be put right."
-T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party
This excerpt from The Cocktail Party provides a brief and concise framework to the first step in generating large-scale change - self-adjustment; be it public policy, the racism epidemic, or, in more recent news, political disagreement - the change always starts from within the individual.
To provide additional literature on the topic of self-adjustment, Dr. Jordan Peterson's "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos" also provides a chapter titled: Set Your House in Order Before You Criticize the World. In short, this extracted passage provides an example of step-by-step instructions on attacking some of the world's largest issues. Dr. Peterson ties the perspective of having a messy home with the even messier situation outside of where you spend the most of your time trying to "tidy".
So, the next time Fox News or CNN pops in with havoc-ridden news, you will be better equipped to tackle a solution to the problem, rather than contributing your (sometimes useless... sorry) Instagram rant. Start by critically analyzing what changes can be made in your personality's soft skills before trying to end the war on (insert problem here). I promise you'll be more effective in your mission to change the world, for the better.
DW
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