Accelerated Adolescence

For Helen, who checks this every day

The world didn't magically change at the stroke of midnight just because the
year went up one digit. It's pretty much the same world it was yesterday.
There's a lot of horrible evil in the world, like crackwhores, starvation,
national debt, killer tsunamis, terrorists and Republicans. But there is a lot
of good and marvelous beauty too. My New Years is a day to hope, to focus on
what could be better and carry on. Bad things happen for a reason, and maybe the world, this year, is one year closer to enlightenment. Hope is a great thing to have. Hope is one of the few things that will triumph over experience.
-Skylor Williams

Several years ago I attended a Midwinter conference in which the emphasis was "Personal Responsibilty". This entirely changed my perspective on the world and my role in. Suddenly, I began to realize that I am responsible for those who go to sleep hungry and homeless. I am responsible for every diseased, sick, and poor one. That doesn't mean that I am at fault, as we often seem to make responsible mean. It means that I have the power to influence the lives of everyone in the world, and thereby, the requirement to take action. Ok, it sounds a lot easier than it is and I am, admittedly, not working up to my potential. I am, however, trying to make progress. Here's the quote that motivated me to go on a year of service and, now, is spurring me on to find a way to become a doctor and serve those in less fortunate circumstances:
Humanity's crying need will not be met by a struggle among competing ambitions or by protest against one or another of the countless wrongs afflicting a desperate age. It calls, rather, �2� for a fundamental change of consciousness, for a wholehearted embrace of Bah�'u'll�h's teaching that the time has come when each human being on earth must learn to accept responsibility for the welfare of the entire human family. Commitment to this revolutionizing principle will increasingly empower individual believers and Bah�'� institutions alike in awakening others to the Day of God and to the latent spiritual and moral capacities that can change this world into another world. We demonstrate this commitment, Shoghi Effendi tells us, by our rectitude of conduct towards others, by the discipline of our own natures, and by our complete freedom from the prejudices that cripple collective action in the society around us and frustrate positive impulses towards change.
(The Universal House of Justice, 2001 May 24, To Believers Gathered for Terrace Events, p. 1)

Recently, I attended another Midwinter conference in which the theme was so vague that i'm still working on internalizing. However, one of the teachers introduced me to a concept that has deeply touched me. What Skylor said at the beginning of the post is certainly true. Amongst depravity, corruption, and abasement there is glory and beauty. But, the ills that afflict humanity are spiritual in nature. However, when we look around it is easy to see that the cause of many crimes is the mindset of the perpetrators. If Israelis saw Palestinians as friends and Palestinians saw Israelis as friends then the two groups would not be in conflict. Voila, however, they view one another as enemies and perpetuate the history of their hatred. Take a look at the quote below:
"There are so many movements in the world at present akin to various Bah�'� principles; indeed we can almost say that the principles of Bah�'u'll�h have been adopted by thinking people all over this planet. But what they do not realize, and what the Bah�'�s must therefore teach them, is that these principles, however perfect, will never be able to create a new society unless and until they are animated by the spirit which alone changes the hearts of and characters of men and that spirit is recognition of their Divine origin in a teacher sent from God in other words, Bah�'u'll�h. When they recognize this, their hearts will change and a change of heart is what people need, not merely a change of intellectual outlook."

Therefore must nostranger find his way into the city of the heart, so that the Incomparable Friend may come unto His own place - that is, the effulgence of His Names and Attributes, not His Essence (exalted is He), for that Peerless King hath been and will be holy for everlasting above ascent or descent.

(Abdu'l-Baha, A Traveller's Narrative, p. 63)