By Curt Williams: On the 20th of this month I was invited on End the Lie Radio hosted by Madison Ruppert on Orion Talk Radio. The NATO summit had kicked off earlier in the day and Madison and myself were ready to break the events of the day down.
While we carried on with our commentary of the protests earlier that day, a listener in the chat room posted this: “Grow, Feed, Love.”
I immediately asked myself, could it really be that simple? In just a few short minutes the answer clearly became a resounding yes.
In a previous article I questioned the real effectiveness of these mass protests we see occurring around the globe. When I looked at large scale protests in the past (most notably the ant-war and civil rights movements) I had to answer no.
No, these protests were not (and are not) bringing about the desired change. Our backs are against the wall and these mass protests seem to be the only discourse. But time and time again these mass protests have resulted in illegal arrests, police brutality being handed out to peaceful demonstrators, police infiltration using undercover agents (agent provocateurs) and just flat out murder of activist as Kent State showed us.
With seemingly no hindrance, the very issues that were being addressed in these “peaceful” protests moved forward.
With no regard for all of the activist that were beaten, murdered, or illegally detained in conditions that easily constitute human rights violations, the wars waged on, the police state grew bigger and our nation continues to crumble.
When we finally come to terms with the hard truth of the condition of this country, it can seem virtually hopeless.
It can become paralyzing in the sense that you can stop even thinking about solutions because you think, “Hey, what’s the point? It’s all crashing anyway, so we might as well enjoy the ride down.”
That is what I hear a lot of. To be fair, that’s partly correct. Yes, we do need to relax and have fun but it should not take the role of primary goal in life. We are living in very serious times. So a good balance of fun and seriousness is needed.
There is a way to combine both the serious and enjoyable aspects to life by applying the G.F.L. model: Grow, Feed, Love. Let me explain.
Grow
Now this actually consists of more than just growing a garden. Victory gardens proved to be not only life saving but morale lifting and community building. In an article written by Barbara L. Minton back in 2009 on Natural News, the benefits are explained rather well:
“The first victory gardens began toward the end of the Great Depression when urban and suburban dwellers cleared strips of their backyards, vacant lots, and any ground they could get their hands on to plant it with produce at a time when food was scarce. Some backyard gardens provided fresh produce for families, while others became community efforts. Some were dedicated to feeding the soldiers. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different kinds of produce and formed cooperatives. Many gardens were so bountiful that there was plenty of produce for home canning in toxic free mason jars. At the peak of the effort, nine to ten million tons of produce was grown, an amount equal to all commercial production. In this effort children and teenagers worked alongside their parents and neighbors.”
I think that sums it up pretty well: people coming together to change their future.
Without these victory gardens their future held certain starvation due to food scarcity. But with friends, family, neighbors and complete strangers putting aside differences they were able to survive one of the most severe economic crashes in history.
Children were working in the garden along side of their parents working toward their own future and not even realizing it. Why? Because they were having too much fun!
Working in the garden provides much more than just healthy food. Gardening can help in the reduction of stress and who couldn’t use some stress reduction in these times of economic uncertainty?
Editor’s note: Gardening has even been shown to help alleviate depression and some doctors think that it can actually be more powerful than the frequently prescribed pharmaceuticals.
Sunlight spurs production of vitamin D and is the body’s main source of the vitamin. In my opinion, victory gardens are the way to go. But you first must be willing to meet new people. Get involved in community events. Spread the word about your interest in starting victory gardens in locally. I think you will see more interest in it than you might have thought.
Feed
This part of the trio speaks for itself. With all the food that can be generated with victory gardens, no one should be without food. Feed all those around you. Let no person within your reach go to bed hungry.
This requires compassion and unfortunately there is a scarcity of it today. Will you feed the noisy neighbor? The cashier at the store who was unnecessarily rude to you? The guy that cut you off in traffic? Don’t forget, you might have been that noisy neighbor, that person who cutoff someone on the freeway, or the rude employee. Compassion is at the heart of the feed part of this trilogy of change.
Love
Really, what do I have to say? We must abolish the hate that we carry in our personal lives. When the realization that we are all in this together, we will see that it does absolutely no good, and quite honestly it’s counterproductive and childish to base hatred on the petty differences that we all have.
So, in closing, when these mass protests seem to be more harmful than helpful, realize that there are other options out there.
Our backs are not against the wall with nowhere to turn other than straight at the machine. We don’t have to play their game. The answer could literally be right in your own backyard. G.F.L.
Edited by Madison Ruppert
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