I always seem to plunge into deep thought during fall. Melancholy thought? Perhaps. But only in the sense that it’s physically a very solitary type of thought, that I like to sit and think without disruption.

It also means, just as it does every four years, that election season is upon us in the U.S. Now, the only thing I am reminded of during election season is how horribly self-serving and corrupt our society is. How big money, and not elected officials, controls the government. Sad really. The monetary unit is king here, as of course, it is in most any capitalist society, democracy or not.

Enough of that though. I’d rather think of how you and I can work within the confines of that system to create positive change. Is it possible? Sure. But you have to be willing to have a set of goals and values, cherish them, hold them ever so close, and not loose sight of them. The only thing that makes those goals and values valid, worthwhile, and effective in creating change, is if you stick to them in the face of their worst enemies. Much positive change has been swayed, disheartened, and ultimately abandoned because people have been made to feel their values are not worth pursuing, because someone either talks you into a more lucrative proposition, or because they pose a undying threat to those values.

We seem to forget that the only people who can crush those values we hold dear are ourselves.