Waiting on the World to Change?

Waiting on the world to change? Really? I have to hand it to Mayer.. I like the song. Its catchy, its got some good ideas, and most importantly it was used on So You Think You Can Dance-a show that I’m fascinated with. Every time I hear it, I wonder if Mr Mayer was expecting this to turn into the feel good-change the world song of the 00’s, reminiscent of the change the world songs of the 80’s. Guess Mr Mayer couldn’t get an entire group of singers together in Hollywood to sing with him, so he just sang it his own damn self! It seems not too many in Hollywood actually make many changes, but rather call out to the average American to feel guilty about their own practices and to step up and change the world. Don’t get me wrong-there are some great activists in America, and in Hollywood. However, the attitude that we must all just wait on the world to change bothers me.

But honestly, waiting on the world to change? What kind of apathetic slacker attitude is that? Why exactly is the change the world manifesto of Mr Mayer about how he’s waiting on the world, instead of being an active participant in the change ideology and activism? I understand his point- based on the lyrics, the complaint is that the government/media/world leaders have all the control and thus we are forced to wait on the world to change…One line even says “its not that we don’t care, its that we know the fight aint fair”.. come on you weak lazy loser! Stop your whining! So what its not fair! Why do you think things need to change!! Cause its not fair, its unbalanced, things aren’t right.. its up to someone to change them.

Isn’t it so indicative of the 2000’s, of this generation? Instead of moving, of acting, we are to sit around and write songs about how unfair the world is? We are to whine and complain when our government sends us to war, or does something we dont agree with, but the most we do is sing? I don’t believe the influx of 18-21 year old applicants to the Army since the beginning of this war believed that singing and waiting was the way to change the world. I believe they know that risking your life, that acting and moving on something you believe creates change.

Really? What happened to the good old belief that one person can change the world? I don’t remember Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther, Churchill, George C Marshall, Joan of Arc, William Wallace…

There are many that made a difference or made an impact, and those that fought for change in sociopolitical arenas- and those were all people that weren’t in power. They knew it took someone to stop whining and to step up and get active

This is not a call to become an activist to everyone who reads it. In fact my changes/effects to change the world are the things that I can personally do. I can affect my local community, my country. I can choose not to support practices I don’t agree with- and I can either choose to believe that little ole me boycotting a practice makes no difference, or I can choose to believe we all make a difference. But sitting around singing and whining about it does nothing.

I dont sit in front of companies with picket signs (although I”m not opposed). I don’t do much different than the average American. But I am informed enough to know that there are practices I just don’t agree with, and thus I dont support them, I talk about them, I discuss them with others, and I make an active decision to do or not to do something, instead of just hoping things will change.

I believe that in raising children that are productive, moral members of society, raised with the idea that they can create change, and can give back to this world IS changing the world. It is making a change and a contribution. One of the best things we can do to affect change is to make the next generation even more productive and active. Instead of a generation of people who just wait.