Social Medicine: Grassroots vs Policy

I now find myself at a carrefour, at a intangible mental crossroad of sorts. As one chapter climaxes and reaches an end I find that a review, or reflection, is necessary in order to examine whether or not certain goals and ideals have been achieved. Although I have now graduated from University, I find that I am no closer to achieving some of the goals that I initially set out to accomplish.  If anything, I feel as if I have regressed and am now farther away from where I had previously hoped to be. 


From the beginning I had idealistically set out to change my reality as I saw it. Deeply troubled by the state of our country's education system, corrupt politics, poverty levels all over the world, and the indecencies being perpetrated in countries all over the world; I wanted to change things.  I was bothered by school systems that promoted and graduated students that could not read or complete simple mathematics.  I was bothered by the corrupt politicking that was taking place in my local region. But above all else, I was bothered by the activities and crimes taking place in countries such as Sudan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Burma. I set out to "fix" things. I worked in school systems, tutored young students, petitioned my local politicians, worked in food kitchens, reached out to the homeless, and even joined organizations that hoped to give faces and names to invisible children.   


I had set out to "fix" things, but I presently find myself being bothered by the same things without being able to do too much outside of alleviating the burden. It burdens my soul to work with American high school seniors that cannot read beyond an 8th grade level. It burdens my soul to see politicians wasting the time, energy, and money of the American people as they try to agree on a federal budget. Do they not realize that people depend on them for life giving medicine, food, and jobs? It burdens my soul to see the abominable state of our common relatives in countries such as Haiti, Palestine, and El Salvador.  Above all else though, it burdens my soul to see the indecencies in Somalia, Libya, and North Korea.  I think that the worst part about carrying this burden is that very few people [Americas] seem to even know and care about the problems facing our common people.  We have done a dis-service to ourselves by turning a blind eye to so many of our world's injustices. I sincerely feel that we, as the elite of the world, have a duty to our common man.  Further, I believe that we have a duty to ourselves.


So here I stand at a crossroad, a metacognition of sorts. Thinking about thinking and thinking about action. What is the nature of our reality, our world, and our common race?  Is there a way to "fix" the reality that we now submit to? After working in the field with various organizations for the past 8 years, I am beginning to see that no amount of field work can solve the problems that we face.  Field work and grass root organizations can only alleviate the situation for an absolute period of time. Volunteers and organizations can only go so far and do so much.  If reality is to change, the rules of our reality must first be reviewed and changed. Those rules, laws and policies, are controlled by a select few in our reality. I now look to bring about a change so great that the very rules of our reality are redefined.  No longer feeling comfortable with allowing others to define the rules, I set out to make my own.  At this crossroad, I believe that it is now necessary to place less emphasis on grassroots and to instead place greater emphasis on policy, advocacy, and law.   


No big deal or anything, simply setting out to redefine reality.