By David Magallanes /Guest contributor
Like many of you, I’ve followed — with some degree of fascination, trepidation and hope — the blossoming that took place during what has been dubbed the “Arab Spring” this past year. We watched as people in several Mideast countries became absolutely disgusted with their lack of freedom and opportunity — to the point of risking, and in too many cases, losing their very lives in the process. But such is the yearning for that which we take for granted in our own country. We have freedom — they don’t. They want what we have. Particularly the young people and women.
Likewise fascinating was the use of social media to organize opposition forces and demonstrations. This is likely not what the creators of Facebook had in mind when they were creating this instrument of mass global socialization. This potent force now unleashed in the world galvanizes masses of people, allowing them to coordinate their actions and plan marches or topple governments.
Looking at things as I do, I had to wonder what personal lessons we could derive as individuals from the Arab Spring phenomenon. There’s always something to learn from history and this movement is truly historic. Spring is a time of rebirth. That which is newly born faces a world of opportunities, as well as a frightening array of dangers. This new Arab world is no different. Our own rebirth is likewise bristling with hope, as well as similarly fraught with peril. Yes, there is a scary component in both birth and rebirth. But the prospect of a dying soul in this one shot at life is even scarier.
What if we were to become conscious of the limitations — the very lack of freedom — in our own lives? Certainly, there are limitations imposed on us from the outside. No, we can’t just “take out” someone we disagree with in our society, regardless of our sense of righteousness. We must pay our taxes. Or maybe we have a physical or mental limitation with which we were born and over which we have no control.
But what if our limitations are self-imposed? What if we do have control over them, as much as we may not want to admit it? What if we were to look outside our immediate environment and want the freedom that we see others have because they don’t allow despotic demons to rule their lives, as we may? These demons are the ones that whisper into our ear at all hours of the day even in our dreams at night: “You can’t do that. You can’t be that. You can’t be prosperous. You can’t be worthy. And above all, you may not express who or what you are.”
What if we were to rise up against those demons — the ones that reside inside us and that must be cast out as forcefully as they were said to be cast out in the region east of Galilee some two thousand years ago? We have the power to perform the rite of exorcism of our own demons. We must be willing to become self-aware and take bold action. No one else can exorcise our demons for us. Not our parents, nor our priests, ministers and rabbis, nor our medications. Others can help, but the great philosophers have always told us that we alone ultimately determine our own fates. If no one is guarding the gate of our consciousness, the demons of despair, apathy or conformity sneak in, sit down, and make themselves very much at home.
The Arab populations this past spring knew that they and they alone had the power to bring down their tyrannical governments. We must do the same — but in our case, because we are blessed with freedom in this bright city on the hill, our “governments” are within ourselves.
— David Magallanes is the creator of his own enterprise, Real World Projects, a speaking, writing and Internet marketing business dedicated to the advancement of the American Dream. An emerging branch of Real World Projects is Edifiquemos, a Spanish language enterprise dedicated to teaching the Spanish-speaking how to create a profitable international (U.S./Mexico) enterprise with low investment and high earning potential. David may be available for speaking opportunities. To contact him and for more information, you are invited to visit and explore his web sites at www.realworldprojects.info and at www.edifiquemos.com His e-mail is dmagallanes@RealWorldProjects.info