ZetaTalk: Change Agent
written Nov 4, 2004

Raised to follow the rules or face the consequences, most humans in all cultures worldwide do so in adulthood without stepping outside the bounds. For Islamic cultures, woman adjust to being draped head to toe when outside the home, the horrific example of rebels stoned and raped ever on their minds. Stop at the red light or be fined, regardless of whether cross traffic exists at the time or not. Pay your bills or lose your possessions and credit rating. Mind the corporate policies and nod approvingly at the dictates of the boss or lose your job. Go through the motions with the spouse even though love has long gone, as this is the only approved sexual outlet and divorce makes one an outcast, socially. Rules, regulations, confining expectations, so much a part of life that other than a quiet seething anger adults are not aware of these invisible ties that bind them to walk in prescribed ruts.

What happens, then, to create a rebel, one who openly rebels against the rules and antagonizes those enforcing them? Anger that has boiled over and cannot be contained, once expressed often puts the rebel into a mode where he cannot go back, and thus in an almost suicidal plunge, he moves forward, free at last to express his resentment. For every rebel that flashes defiance, there are thousands in a quiet revolt, a personal revolution building and waiting for an opportunity. There is the building process, then the opportunity where the threshold drops temporarily, and another rebel is born.

• The Muslim woman, long resentful but feeling her situation hopeless, finds during warfare and upheaval in her country that she can dress as a man, take up a weapon, and move about the streets freely, her bravery part of her disguise - the warfare spilling into her village the opportunity. Once having stepped out of her bonds, she plots another course for her life, freed of her invisible bonds. When the women in the village find themselves trapped in their robes, but needing to flee, she suggest another mode, the rebel now a leader.
• The dutiful citizen, paying his bills and minding the traffic signs and wearing the appropriate dress and prating the corporate agenda at work, is presented with earthquake upheaval that has reduced his home and workplace to rubble - the earthquake, the trapped and injured neighbors, the opportunity. Thinking survival, solely, he breathes more deeply and finds his head clear for the first time in years, the focus not on the rules but the emergency at hand. Is it looting to take rope from a store, without paying, to rescue those trapped under fallen trees? Once having cast the net of expectations aside, the adult thinks about these matters, and no longer reacts in a programmed manner.
• The spouse who finds love gone but the ties that bind still in place deals with the cold shoulder in bed, the hostile comments at the dinner table, by distractions and sadness, but one day a flat tire on the road provides a socially acceptable meeting between two lonely people, and by the time the tire is changed and a cup of coffee in thanks has passed, the rules about fidelity are being ignored - a simple flat tire, the opportunity. The life long gone is suddenly a possibility again, and plans are laid on how to complete the process, divorce, arrangements, and being bold.

Given the upheaval to come during the increasing earthquakes and volcanic activity leading up to rotation stoppage, breaking roads and twisting rails, shattering cities and exploding pipelines, what can be expected of those living today under the rules they were raised to abide by, without question? For every individual harboring seething resentment, anger over senseless and inhumane rules, there will be an opportunity to step into a different mode of action. The soldier, told to point his gun at a child and shoot, not only refusing but turning his gun to protect, not main, the child, rebelling. The housewife, told by her husband to stay in the house, no longer safe, with the children, taking the car keys and leaving home and husband for good, rebelling. Police and firefighters, told by officials to let the buildings burn and to blockade escape from the city as their presence in a Martial Law directive is required blocking roads so looters cannot move to more affluent areas, turning a deaf ear to the orders and doing what their hearts tell them is the right thing to do, rebels all. Thus, in those counties where it seems freedom is dying, democracy stolen, dictatorship on the rise, take comfort. Help is on the way, the Earth changes will allow an opportunity for all to live lives more real, more caring, than was imagined.