Boundless Enthusiasm - The Enthusiastic Musings of Marshall Ian Sontag

Today I came across something so incredibly touching and deeply inspiring that I was compelled to show the world by posting it on my blog. (By “world,” I mean all five of my readers!) It was Sarah McLachlan’s new song, “World on Fire,” and, well, just watch the video, damn it!

It’s a call to rise, and it has certainly has had that effect on me, inspiring me to spread the word and give more to those suffering around the world. Furthermore, Joshua pointed out to me that there is not actual suffering depicted, but rather moments of joy and celebration. This makes the video especially effective because it focuses on positives. As I witness the humanity of these impoverished peoples, it makes me realize that, in an extremely fundamental way, we are all the same. When you recognize and fully realize this universal truth of human existence, you can’t help but heed Jesus’ advice to “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” While achieving such a realization, however, may seem like a monumental feat, this is merely a reference to the emotion of empathy. An emotion that, if given a voice, would say “I feel your pain and suffer with you. I joyously revel in your triumphs.”

Now, allow me to wax integrally! (If you have no idea what that means, perhaps you’d better brush up on Spiral Dynamics or tune out right about now. )

To me, this video exemplifies the true beauty of the green meme, otherwise known as the sensitive self. Green shines its light of universal compassion on suffering wherever it may go, leaving no stone unturned and respecting no boundaries. However, a green voice that speaks of no resentment for orange or blue values is a rare creature indeed, and I feel it should be honored wherever it may be found. Perhaps one could criticize its lack of an appreciation for good orange values such as free markets that actually create surpluses which allow us to give to charity (ironically, the world displayed around the video is Orange!) However, we can easily attribute this to the characteristic nearsightedness of all first-tier memes. We can still love it for what it is and forgive it for everything it is not, just as we would our own parents, siblings, friends or coworkers. (Perhaps what I’m saying to do is, find a liberal somewhere and hug them, but only after giving them an economics lesson. )

To paraphrase Jay-Z: If ya can’t respect that, ya whole perspective is wack — Maybe you’ll love them when you fade to black yellow…

What are you waiting for? Check out Sarah’s donations, or check out this integral organization that seeks to save the world by promoting entrepreneurship and capitalism (!), founded by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 at 11:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.