Change implies innovation, trying things that fly in the face of convention and continually challenging that feeling of powerlessness produced by what appear to be overwhelming odds.

Becoming more aware of how and why thing are being done the way they are; opening one’s heart and mind up to seeing things differently – is a tall order! After all there is so much to do and so many mistakes to admit to.

After all… the last 50 years in North America have been spent building social values on the basis of the pursuit of individual accomplishment and wellbeing. In order to succeed in this endeavour we have little place or patience for those who point out the downfalls, because, in order to; build a career, give our families the best of everything and then find some time to relax means developing highly efficient organisational strategies and access to a wide range of products and services designed to make our lives easier.

Therefore… Having a car or two is a must, since we live far away from our workplaces; we have to chauffeur our children to all their planned activities designed to give them the best chance; our bedroom communities are built around malls situated at a distance and little or no services are available close to home; inefficient public transport is precisely for an unfortunate ‘class’ of people who do not own a car; we eat on the run and have little time to cook- without pre or already cooked foods; job security, isn’t and the majority of people earn enough to pay the bills or even less; our children have to be ‘in’ – stressed and threatened, just like us, if they can’t “walk, the walk and talk, the talk”; meanwhile we scratch cards that promise more and a better life!; We’re constantly on the run!

However… We feel like we are stuck in a no win situation; guilty of leading the very lives we have to in order to succeed. Blamed we are, for the social, economic and ecological consequences inherent to achieving that much sought after ‘better life”. However, the dream of a “better life” isn’t new – it is precisely what has fuelled so many generations of immigrants. Except that, now not only are we are asked to pay for the damages pursuant to the oldest motivating factor in human history – achieving a better life! – to top it all off– we must recognize that we already live better than most people elsewhere in the world!

So… to lack social consciousness is now socially unacceptable – therefore one must buy equitably, drive ecologically, wear free of exploitation clothing, wash without polluting, eat organic and use recycled paper products and recycling boxes and despite all of this, it’s still is not enough! And, it takes time and money to do all of the above. Who has the most of those?

Changing the way in which we do things –is about more than few well placed words; but let’s start first by letting go of our moralistic ways of handling and lecturing on the issues. Do we really expect that people trapped by their choices will trade their adherence to one “set of truths” for the dubious satisfaction of accepting the blame for another?

Do we really need to perpetuate our ‘guilt ridden pedagogic legacy’ [1] which splits the world into those who ‘hold’ to whom we credit the truth and being legitimately wronged and to the others to whom we attribute the blame.

Let’s change one of our habits: let’s stop premising the recognition of injustice solely on an attribution of guilt.

Notes : [1] Alice Miller: C’est pour ton bien. Racines de la violence dans l’éducation de l’enfant, Paris, Aubier Montaigne, 1984.