First bit of catch up. (Meant to post this 3/26!) Worldchanging reported on Bruce Sterling‘s speech at South by Southwest (SxSW), which you can listen to here:
The challenge, Bruce says, is that the worst people in the world — genocidal ethnic mafiosos, fundamentalist fanatics, Washington lobbyists — are running the show, American government has become the new Soviet Union (ossified, corrupt and widely perceived as illigitimate by the rest of the planet) and things are not good in much of the world. That said, if you look honestly at the world, you see a new story emerging, with millions of smart, dedicated people locked in a struggle to steer us towards a better future using every tool in their power, and that “that’s a big story!” Finally, he reminds those of us who are part of that story of the motto of the old Soviet-era Eastern European dissidents: “Make no decision out of fear.”
Rx: Say that every morning. “Make no decision out of fear.”
Need support? Add a dose of the Litany Against Fear:
“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.”