Stephanie Allen Crist

I believe that every human being is imbued with innate power. This power is theirs alone to exercise. I believe that every human being is born with the need to exercise their innate power. Exercising this innate power not only creates the conditions that make growth and development possible, but it also is how human beings interact with this world. I do not believe that every human being is imbued with the same amount of innate power any more than I believe that every human being is imbued with the same gifts and talents as everyone else. I believe that every human being has a unique set of needs and abilities and that both are parts of that unique human being who deserves to be free to choose how best to use their abilities to meet their needs.

My husband has said on more than one occasion that the bar I set is significantly higher than the one he sets, which is still higher than human beings have ever actually achieved.

We live in a world where people have learned how to strip one another of their innate power and use the power in a manner contrary to that person’s best interests. We live in a world where people have perfected such techniques to empower themselves to enslave other human beings as if they were things that could be owned. We live in a world where the people with more power than they are entitled to force us to allow them or their cronies to enslave other human beings.

I do not consent.

I do not choose to endure such a world.

I say, “No.”

I believe there are other people who are willing to choose to believe that all human beings deserve to be free to choose for themselves. I believe there are other people who are willing to hope that all human beings will make better choices when all human beings have their right to make their own choices protected by their fellow human beings.

People tell me the world is better than I think. People tell me the world is worse than I think. People tell me everything I think is wrong and have done so for as long as I can remember.

I have incorrect information. There are things that I have learned that are wrong. There are a wide variety of things that I have learned that flat out contradict each other. I do not hold facts or conclusions very tightly anymore, because I know that they change. Often, the individual facts are in fact factual. The facts are often presented to us as pieces of a greater whole. We never encounter a truth with all the facts needed to piece it together perfectly. Rather, if we ever do encounter a truth with all the facts needed to piece it together perfectly, we never know beforehand that we have all the pieces we need among the totality of the pieces we have, which we are incapable of processing simultaneously. I suspect that the truth, whatever that is, has layers which mortal human beings are not capable of accessing.

I do not presume to know what the Truth is, which is why I use my tools to the best of my abilities to express my truth as clearly and as cleanly as I can. It is also why I seek out the truths of others. I seek out people who understand that their truth is unique and therefore precious and worth sharing. I seek out people who understand that sharing their truth does not diminish anyone else’s truth. We can only add to each other when we tell our truth.

I seek out people who understand that there is power in truthtelling. One must be powerful to engage in truthtelling. One must exercise their power to engage in truthtelling. And yet, we live in a world where one must risk that power to engage in truthtelling. One must be willing to take that risk. It is a choice. It is a choice which is innately our own.

I abhor the fact that I came to this understanding so late in life. Had I lived the life intended for me, I would never have gained this understanding at all. I abhor the fact that there are people who live their entire lives without this understanding. I abhor the fact that people have built systems that actively and intentionally deprive others of this understanding. I abhor that we live in a world that is so thoroughly designed to deprive people of their innate power that none of it may be salvageable.

Nature teaches us that a corrupt system left unchecked will destroy its environment and, when it runs out of environments to destroy, it will destroy itself. Too many human civilizations have proved this pattern applies to us for us to sanely doubt we’ve become more powerful than nature. Nature also teaches us that she has a great many ways to disrupt such systems. Nature can and does slap human beings down when she has to; she rewards us generously when we work with her; therefore human beings will be better off when we work with nature than when we work against her.

Informed people make better choices than misinformed or inadequately informed people do.

This is a belief, not a fact. It seems like common sense to me. But I’ve been told my aspirations for my fellow humans are not realistic. *sigh*

I’m willing to bet our future on that belief. I am willing to bet our future on the belief that informed people are going to be more inclined to work with nature than insist on working against her. I am willing to bet that informed people who have the knowledge and power to exercise their own abilities to meet their own needs to the best of their abilities, including accessing community resources given freely by others to help people in need, will make better choices that work with nature instead of insisting they continue to fight nature to try to force their way.

What if everyone had a choice? What if everyone had the power to choose for themselves because their right to do so was protected by everyone else? What problem couldn’t we solve if we all had the opportunity to achieve our potential?

So, what do you choose?