This post is mainly about being responsible for how you listen. The part about accountable government, political accountability, will come at the end.
By “listening”, I don’t mean how you hear. I mean how you add meaning
Someone posted on Facebook:
Wake up, jump out of bed, clap your hands together and say, “YES! I’M ALIVE! THANK YOU!” I’m grateful for being able to open up my eyes this morning and witness the majesty of the world! I’m grateful to see the crystal clear vision I have for myself and I’m going to get out there and make it happen, whatever it takes! As far as we know, we only have ONE life! What are you going to do today to make it unforgettable, full of love, passion, and purpose!?
When you wake up, jump out of bed, clap your hands together and say whatever you’re going to say, who’s going to listen? I know *I* wouldn’t listen. Or rarely… I’m tired when I wake up. The first thing in the morning, I don’t want to be responsible for how I listen! That takes effort. Wake up, jump out of bed? That seems like a lot of effort wasted given that I almost never listen…
Let’s do a thought experiment. Let’s say I did that every morning and only heard it maybe 1% of the time. Let’s say it took 2000 days, about 6 years, for me to hear it enough to actually consider it. Only when I really took the time to consider it seriously would I began to listen to it newly and hear any possibility in it. And then, hearing new possibilities in it, I’d listen more closely so I’d hear it more often.
Say I heard it often enough and thought about it newly enough to try looking at life that way. So I looked for opportunities do be great and live a life I wanted, where I took big risks but enjoyed the rewards whether it be success or failure while living a life I loved. And let’s say I lived a life full of love, full of spontaneity, full of passion, and most of all for me, full of contribution. (Let’s say I contributed “political accountability” to the world in a way that worked!) And even before I had success, I felt myself to be fully expressed, at peace in the world, joyful and fulfilled, knowing that I, myself, in the image of God create purpose. That like God, by spurning the repetition of old, trite meanings and “wisdom” that the culture hands down, I create life. I can actually design not just life, but myself. I create humanity in my speaking. And I create the world in my listening to what is spoken.
Say I lived this wondrous and fulfilling life of contribution. Say I successfully gave humanity a structure in which government could be accountable to the people and empower them to all design life together and constructively build it. Say we all led such lives and each one of us left the world a little better, a little richer and more joyful than when we were born. How glorious would our lives be?
In that thought experiment, it seems like it was worth it to jump up every morning and be thankful for being alive. So maybe it would be worthwhile to say something inspiring and risky and be responsible for how we listen to life.
Now we’re at the end, and should mention accountable government. Whether it’s present or missing, it’s part of life. Be responsible for how you listen for accountable government, too.
