October 10 closes a nine-year karmic chapter and begins the part of the story where everything learned starts returning as blessings, reciprocation, peace, abundance and effortless wish fulfilment. The 10:10:10 Gateway returns for the first time since October 10, 2017.

October 10 marks the completion of a spiritual curriculum our soul spent years mastering. Experiences that once arrived through testing chapters begin returning in completely different ways.

Through devotion, supportive people, fortunate developments and blessings that reflect who those years helped us become.

On October 10, 2017, a hurricane came to Puerto Rico and devastation reigned. Trump 101 was slow to respond and never provided the required support. He wrote his first refrain, a testament to our pain — here we are almost a decade later.

Nine years of experience have changed us — how we read people, situations, timing, attraction and our own inner signals.

Sweet words still touch the heart, yet behavior reveals far more now. Chemistry brings excitement, although consistency decides how deeply somebody enters your life.

Intuition can catch patterns that once required months of analyzing. Support looks different because we recognize who genuinely celebrates our growth and who appears mainly when it benefits them.

Dreams speak differently as well, because certain desires have survived years of change and still return with the same unmistakable pull.

October 10 marks completion and beginning at the same point. Heavy karmic lessons clear vast emotional space. The central teachings now live within our instincts. Patterns that once required years to understand are recognized before they become another long cycle.

Peace becomes part of our standard because our heart understands the signs. Relationships begin from mutual care. Abundance expands through gifts finally recognized as valuable.

Long-held dreams receive room to grow because we no longer reduce our self around circumstances connected with a past version of our story.

Across the coming days and weeks, prepare for visible signs that the next chapter has already started. A message may turn into plans. Attraction could become unmistakable effort.

Somebody might show how seriously they value the connection. An idea may reach the person capable of taking it further.

Written by well-known Parisian jeweler, Leonard Rosenthal, in 1919 and published in Paris as Au Royaume de la Perle.

He commissioned Edmund Dulac for 10 illustrations for the deluxe English edition — The Kingdom of the Pearl, published in 1920 in London by Nisbet & Co.

The art is done in a Persian miniature style uniquely Dulac.

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

The Kingdom of the Pearl was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you like to set intentions in the first few months of the year, September is often a time when we can start to see some progress.

A new season brings a new rhythm.

1. ​Ground. Bring grounding stones, earthy incense, and protective ritual goods into your space.
2. Refresh. Clear out the energy of summer with cleansing sprays, smoke, bells, and other space-clearing tools.
3. Gather. Stock up on the incense, candles, herbs, and ritual essentials you’ll want close at hand as the days grow shorter.

​Prepare your space, refresh your ritual, and rebuild your altar. Gather what you need for the months ahead.

We are already halfway through September.

As we reach the middle of the month, we experience the Equinox and the Sun moving into Libra. This is a powerful day for our planet, and a time when we can really soak up Mother Earth’s healing vibrations with ease.

It is also a powerful point in our month to reflect on how we are choosing to spend our energy and how it aligns with where we want to be.

September 17 begins the final chapter of a nine-year emotional journey that first began when Chiron entered Aries on April 17, 2018. After briefly returning to Pisces later that year, Chiron entered Aries again on February 18, 2019, continuing a cycle that has been teaching one lesson beneath everything else.

How to return to yourself after life, love, rejection, responsibility and disappointment changed the way you saw your own worth.

Now Chiron returns to Aries for the closing months of this cycle and remains there until April 14, 2027, bringing us back through the places where confidence was shaken, identity was questioned and parts of ourselves were pushed aside while trying to be loved, accepted, understood or kept close.

These final months bring everything back to the deepest theme Chiron in Aries has been working through since 2018 — learning how to fully belong to yourself again.

Between now and April, the greatest change will be the feeling that your heart belongs fully to you again. You can love deeply without losing yourself inside another person, remember the past without allowing it to write the future and desire something fully without asking an old wound for permission.

Chiron closes this cycle by helping you reconnect with the parts of yourself that heartbreak, rejection and disappointment once made you doubt, and that return can become one of the most divine acts of healing you ever experience.

We may find ourselves pondering the question, Who am I really? Chiron moving back into Aries will guide our way and give us fire and motivation, not just to understand who we are, but who we want to be.

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

summer blows over was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Its energy is tied to intuition, enlightenment, and spiritual awakening. If you’ve been drawn to the meaning of number 11, you may be on the path to discovering your higher purpose.

Focus on your studies and deepen your understanding. The more work you do on yourself, the better you will contribute to the world at large.

For those who embrace this path there are many rewards, including the deep satisfaction that comes from making a contribution to the advancement of others. For some, this will include financial gain and notoriety.

It represents illumination; a channel to the subconscious; insight without rational thought; and sensitivity, nervous energy, shyness, and impracticality. It is a dreamer.

The Master number 11 has all the aspects of the 2, but is considerably enhanced and charged with charisma, leadership, and inspiration. It is a number with inborn duality, which creates dynamism, inner conflict, and other catalysts with its mere presence.

A number that, when not focused on a goal beyond itself, can be turned inward to create fear and phobias. Meanwhile Venus — birth planet of Virgo, goes into retrograde on October 3.

All planets in our solar system turn retrograde (appearing to move backwards from Earth’s point of view) at some point. We all know about Mercury’s retrograde. All the outer planets turn retrograde each year. Mars turns retrograde every 2 years and Venus every 18 months.

When Venus appears to move backward in the sky, our values and connections don’t go forward as usual. Instead, we’re invited to review, reassess, and realign ourselves with our values.

Whether we’re re-evaluating a relationship, our spending habits, or our sense of self-worth — Venus retrograde can illuminate what’s been hidden beneath the surface.

Mahala’s birth date number is One. The talents and abilities brought with the energy represented by the birth day number 1 tend to be related to leadership and/or being out front getting things done.

The energy also has resonance with the ideas of independence, innovation, and entrepreneurship — doing what they decide to do without feeling compelled to consult others for feedback. Information tends to be seen as a tool rather than desired for academic reasons.

Her life path number is Nine. The life path energy represented by the number 9 is humanitarian in nature. It tends to be idealistic. It is tolerant and compassionate.

The life path 9 energy comes with a vivid imagination.

The events and circumstances a person with a life path 9 experiences as they live life seems to either persistently or frequently present events and circumstances related to the benefit of humanity.

The person tends to have innate tolerance and compassion. There is a tendency to freely and joyfully give of time and possessions when providing assistance.

Spiritual sensitivity and holistic feelings for humanity generally encompass a wide range — compassion, generosity, sympathy, tolerance.

Although the person generally gets along with all people, they’re most comfortable with those who are artistic, philosophical, and inspirational.

Happiest of birthdays honeybee!

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

celebrating a life path, birthday, new orbit was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The workers, producers and stewards are also the current custodians of not just agriculture but also the environment and our biodiversity. Along with the ecosystem and sustainability, all are closely linked and entwined.

For centuries, humanity has benefitted from Earth’s rich bounty of natural resources. But these last few decades also make us aware of the ensuing global impact the human footprint makes. Climate change, biodiversity loss, disrupted ecosystems, land degradation, and public health emergencies, including novel pandemics.

After years of a largely slow and sleepy lifestyle in the Negros Island Region — we now massive push and movement — lots of expansion, growth and change. As with everything, there are many parts and facets that require consideration — from all the stakeholders affected in our communities.

It happened when the Spanish first landed on our shores. Then again when the sugar industry was introduced into our island’s tropical rainforest. Logging cleared the land and much of our endemic plants and wildlife were endangered and made extinct.

In the upheaval and chaos, it feels at times as though we are being inundated by too much. Dengue and typhoid outbreaks. Recurring swine and bird flu surges. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Typhoons and flooding. Their occurrence has been escalating in continuing cycles.

Prolonged ignorance and exploitation have resulted in huge economic loss, reduced nature benefits, less of natural beauty, and greater risk to people’s health and well-being.

Despite this awareness, the global community has often overlooked scientific guidance and undervalued the importance of nature — in their need to expand and progress. It is up to the people to ensure policy formulation and decision-making processes align with sustainable, safe, and resilient resource allocation mechanisms.

It is critical for policy makers to recognize the natural environment and ecosystems as valuable cultural and capital assets, alongside physical, human, social, and intellectual capital. Did you know that in other parts of the world nature and its elements have been awarded rights just as humans have?

Most folks though still think of agriculture as only crop farming: soil and land preparation — sowing, fertilizing, irrigating, and harvesting different types of plants and vegetation.

Crop farming is just one aspect of the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting sector. Agriculture also encompasses raising livestock; industrial forestry and fishing; and agricultural support services, such as agricultural equipment repair and trucking operations.

In our #BAO article last month we featured the local beloved carabao — the domestic water buffalo, independent if not free. Never wholly dependent on the local farmer for survival, while Filipino farmers then relied heavily on groups of carabaos to prepare and cultivate the fields they tilled.

Why is agriculture important? It helps sustain life by providing the food we need to survive. It is also a major contributor in the Philippine economy. Despite agriculture’s importance, data and reports show that farm workers are among the lowest paid in the country.

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating natural resources to sustain human life and provide economic gain. It combines the creativity, imagination, and skill involved in planting crops and raising animals with modern production methods and new technologies.

It is also a business that provides the global economy with commodities: basic goods used in commerce, such as grain, livestock, dairy, fiber, and raw materials for fuel, clothing, and other necessities.

History has tracked the origins of humanity and civilizations to the development of agriculture in different parts of the world.

When wild stands that had previously been harvested started to be planted and gradually came to be domesticated, along with livestock — communities grew and prospered. Traveling troops and conquering hordes led to more exchange, transformation and diffusion of food around the globe.

Agriculture evolved from nomadic to pastoral farming in search of pasture, fodder and water. Forests and growth were cleared for more land in shifting cultivation. This is a type of farming practiced mainly in areas with abundant rainfall where the forest regenerates quickly.

Subsistence farming is practiced to satisfy family or local needs alone, with little left over for transport elsewhere. This comprise about sixty percent of the world’s arable land around tropical Southeast Asia, where the Philippines is located.

Intensive farming is cultivation to maximize productivity, with a low fallow ratio and a high use of sources (water, fertilizer, pesticide and automation). It is practiced mainly in developed countries on a vast scale.

Agriculture has been associated with the production of essential food crops. At present, agriculture above and beyond farming includes forestry, dairy, fruit cultivation, poultry, beekeeping, mushroom, arbitrary, etc. All are acknowledged as part of current agriculture.

Agriculture could be referred to as the production, processing, promotion, and distribution of agricultural products. Agriculture plays a critical role in the entire life of a given economy.

Yet urban sprawl and human gentrification are building more cities for a exploding population. Spreading and encroaching more and more into nature and rural places — affecting local wild and plant life that put it all at risk and nudge closer to a tipping point.

How then do we reconcile agriculture and industry that have relied on natural resources beyond sustainable and safe limits? We are better off than the rest of the Philippines on our island — home to healthy and thriving organic farming, fishing and growing practices.

More recently slow food has found a home base here. With community projects like earth markets, food mapping, Arc of Taste, production coalitions, and service alliances. It has become a leading beacon in the Asia and Pacific region for providing good, fair and clean food, directly from farms to our tables.

Agriculture is the backbone of the economic system of any given country — we need to be more aware of its contribution and value. In addition to providing food and raw material, agriculture also provides employment opportunities to a large percentage of the population.

Agriculture can provide opportunities for economic equity and help people prosper around the world. For example, since 2000, the agricultural growth rate in Sub-Saharan Africa has surpassed that of any other region in the world (approximately 4.3% annually), contributing to the region’s economic gains, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

While there’s been a global decline in agricultural jobs — from one billion in 2000 to 883 million in 2019, according to employment indicators from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — agriculture remains the second-highest source of employment (26.7% of total work).

The Philippines needs stronger support and sustained assistance for the county’s leadership and government agencies. Instead of being tied to a political agenda, we need to work with lawmakers for the good of the land and the people. Instead of treating our agriculturists like mendicants begging for crumbs, we should all be regular consumers and tireless advocates for them.

We have an old saying over here — in our lifetime we may need a doctor a few times, but we all need a farmer to feed us every day. Let us build better awareness and support for our farmers and their heroic effort.

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

being strong & steady stewards was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Many do not even look for a different perspective — one that presents the true reality, which often is never as perfect or pretty.

Global tourism, as currently practiced, is underperforming, highly vulnerable and heading towards breakdown. Its operating model is no longer fit for purpose and needs to be replaced. ~ Managing Sustainable Tourism Growth, 2019

Travel like it matters. Prepare well and design each trip with care. Socially and environmentally be mindful of your impact wherever you go.

Choose curated and guided experiences created by locals — to better share their culture, cuisine and lifestyle. You will be gratified by a sense of place most travelers hardly get to see.

Learn about the area’s history. It’ll add meaning to where you go and an appreciation of why some cultural monuments you’ll see exist.

The history of a place gives an understanding of why things are the way they are today. Taking some time to learn about where you’re going is a healthy sign of conscious respect.

Respect local traditions and cultures. Take time to understand the customs and traditions of the place you will be visiting. Don’t arrive in your destination a clueless and ignorant tourist.

‍Respect the local culture by dressing appropriately, using the correct language, and following local customs. They may not be something you’re used to, but learning about them is crucial to an enjoyable cultural exchange.

‍Support local businesses. You can contribute by adhering to the local culture and practices. People are vital to local economies and businesses. By being mindful you can play your part in helping out.

‍This could include eating at local restaurants (which will become a favourite hobby when working at camp), buying souvenirs from local artisans, and staying in locally-owned accommodations on your days off. Leaving places the way you found them is a sign of respect.

‍Be mindful of wildlife. Keep your distance. Respect boundaries. Do not interfere. When travelling to natural areas, respect the wildlife and their habitats. It is their home and we are its visitors.

This includes avoiding feeding animals, touching them, or disrupting their natural behaviour. Getting too comfy with humans isn’t natural for them, and can cause them problems in the future.

Be nice. Its not cute or cheesy to smile and be gracious. A compliment can change a person’s day. It also reflects on not only you but your own home country and upbringing.

Fresh and new ideas, perspectives, and personalities all impact those you come into contact with. Make sure the impact you leave is a positive one.

Be better informed if you pride yourself in being a world traveler. Don’t just be a tourist passing through.

Remove any blinders and connect with the communities you visit. Be a conscious collaborator in the wake you make. Choose wisely. Make a difference where you can.

Travelling is a life-changing opportunity but doing so with purpose and awareness expands the experience and the entire community.

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

travel trap tourism was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It seems like Change Warrior has spent the majority of 2025 and 2026 ranting against the transactionality and commodification, decolonization and better care of human beings — whether we are on home ground or abroad.

Touristification is a phenomenon that is happening worldwide — in both the north and the south hemispheres, whether in high traffic or far flung areas.

Born and raised in the Philippines, I moved to the US right after 9/11. I have returned to our island home for two years now after being abroad for 20 years.

This is my reflection on how touristification can transform a place you love and were once possessed with a strong sense of belonging — prior to being evicted.

I eventually left the neighborhood when my rent tipped past most of my income. Although I lost my daily life, I am still one of the luckier few. I had options and could choose a new path.

That wasn’t the case for many elderly residents or migrants who didn’t really have a Plan B.

Returning to the old neighborhood, I am happy I no longer live there. The changes have made it unrecognizable, marked up prices are through the ozone. Cookie cutter cafés repeat on every block. AirBnBs are just about in every building.

It’s alarming to witness folks — locals, visitors, tourists — unaware of what’s happening in these neighborhoods. Extending around the rest of the city or into other destinations worldwide.

This is a growing concern and problem. As travelers, we have a responsibility to inform ourselves about the places we visit — their histories and culture, the current situation or circumstance. Be better prepared to face their realities before we hit the ground.

This is the ideal opening toward a more conscious and less colonized relocation, transit or travel. It does serve us all best when we take care of local communities — our own and those of others.

The blame is not the sole concern of tourism but is shared with localized leadership and the government. All have a stake in the responsibility to preserve and create affordable housing, quality of life, safety, and equality — for both residents and visitors.

The people and population as a whole need to be better served and serviced. To ensure a more enjoyable experience for the general public and not just some entitled few.

Let us care well for all neighborhoods and communities — those we live in and those we visit.

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

keeping neighborhoods well was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In a world of therapy-speak, Freya India argues we’ve lost the language of character — replacing quirks with conditions. But are we mentally ill, or just human?

This is part of a deeper instinct in modern life to explain everything — psychologically, scientifically, evolutionarily. Everything about us is caused, categorized, and can be corrected.

We talk in theories, frameworks, systems, structures, drives, motivations, and mechanisms. But in exchange for explanation, we lost mystery, romance, and lately, ourselves.

So free yourself — live unapologetically with no need to argue in defense of oneself. Be brave and normal — no need to explain, complain, retain. My emotions are mine. My decisions are mine. My memories are mine.

Not to be intruded upon by an audience, the current market, for interpretation by experts. Mine to do with as I please and not at the others pleasure. Not to be filed as deviations from what the medical or any other industry decides is healthy. Your opinions remain yours — not mine.

I remain unsolvable — a mystery ready for discovery. Written in the stars. Wandering the earth. Curious and unknowable — divinely human.

A person, not a product. No explanation needed, no reason required.

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

being human was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Growing up, language has been this tool that emits might and power — expanding reality but also limiting and contracting what is perceived and manifested. Speaking in tongues. The speech of our colonizers.

The limits of language and my deepening relationship with it often feel frustratingly fragile and futile.

Like a child, flat footed getting up to take its first tentative steps, I stagger and flounder — adrift in a sloshing sea of words. Unable to fully grasp much less capture concepts — how much more articulate them accurately?

Add to the broiling brew a history brimming with secrets and skeletons lumbering and lurching through a minefield of misinterpretation and recollection.

What happens to the eye of the heart when it has been constantly and consistently blinded and blamed? Groomed and gaslighted growing up? Wined and dined to a glut?

Dimmed and distorted by deluded and deranged denial at every turn. Slithering through the sleazy slime of a sabotaged slippery slope. The rug wrenched from under an already shaky unreliable world.

None of it in my control yet each needs some nuanced navigating at every turn.

A citizen of crime and punishment — I watch and learn through my child’s comprehension, and on into adulthood.

Struggling to master command of the language — weak words weaponized. In comprehension or communication. In expression or exasperation. In delivery or driven direction.

Ideas burst forth in an upheaval of frothing emotions. Feelings ran amok under pressure cooker thoughts.

In the past, it was assumed that our emotions are merely animal energies or primal impulses — wholly separate from our cognition.

Instead, they are now recognized as a centerpiece of moral philosophy — with any theory of ethics requiring an understanding of the feelings that drive us.

Being bilingual in language and environment teaches me that all words are stained by context — steeped in things beyond their definition. Defining a word lies in how it is used — in the meaning we assign to it.

What the word holds for its user or recipient is what defines that word. How a word is used can change the definition of a word. The dictionary must catch up to us — to how a word can evolve through time and circumstance, as we grow and change along.

Wordsmiths and storytellers need not be intimidated by definitions and cave to standardization.

We use a dictionary to learn the rules. To introduce us to new and unfamiliar words and worlds open up to us. What happens in the blank spaces and outlying margins as we explore and learn, can open new vistas.

Emotions reveal us as vulnerable to events that we do not control — any neediness and lack of self-sufficiency. Emotions are both necessary and disorienting — acknowledging our own vulnerabilities.

This is the concentric circle to how culture works. Often what is in the margins changes the culture. The culture then captures it, commercializes it, brings it into the center — once centralized, it shoots out a product.

The culture engulfs innovation, brings it into the center again, and then spits it out once more. A homogenized commodity is circulated, the cycle keeps repeating, until things degrade and are destroyed.

In a constantly circulating cycle of culture. This is how empires collapse.

What’s the point of all of it? Language has shaped my life. I am here because of it. I’ve been able to materially support myself because of this thing that has no weight, is not tangible, and remains undefined.

Literature and writing do not really save us the way we want it to. Because in essence it is still the tool of tyranny.

The first thing an authoritarian regime does is capture newspapers and media outlets — change the stories, create new narratives.

Monsters making monstrous moments, instilling inhumane insanity while harnessing humanity’s greatest treasures. Art, music, literature, architecture, imagery.

Sceptic or romantic, stoic or indulgent — the magic created on a page, once released, gains a life and momentum of its own.

Set free into the world and out of our control.

Originally published at http://me-our.blogspot.com.

babbling emotions was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

December 10 is designated Terra Madre Day around the world. From small gatherings to large community festivals — every Terra Madre Day event shines a light on the power of local food cultures and the importance of “Good, Clean and Fair food for all.”

Global food security is constantly under threat from an overpopulated world increasingly unhinged from nature and its own environment. Urban sprawl and unbalanced expansion endanger our wildlife and natural resources.

Yet we consume, abuse, destroy in the wake of a human footprint grown fat and indulgent of too many of its creature comforts. We now find ourselves beyond the tipping point of catastrophic consequences. Denial will not change the outcome unless we decide to change our consciousness.

Instead of driving ahead forcefully and blindly, we need to work smart, collaborate together, and build sustainable systems for our communities’ increasing demands. Ensure that the basics can be availed by all, not just a chosen few — food, housing, health, clean water, good soil, etc.

Instead of greedily hoarding what we have, we need to resolve the matter around open and diverse conversations that lead to diverse and open solutions. Invite folks in, create longer tables, deepen our stores — hand in hand, mouth to mouth, heart and soul.

If our little backwater here in Bacolod city could get the whole island to host this event of regional participants engaging in an international exchange — there is boundless hope in growing this movement to surpass its momentum and move into velocity. Bringing us all along in its wake — the wake we make.

Join in and be part in sustaining and continuing this global moment of solidarity and celebration. Happy Terra Madre Day to all!

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

global fair food festival was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On good days I take in our cityscape — its natural dips and rises, its mix of high rise buildings and tiny houses, its trees, streets and people, its cultures and politics — and my heart is filled to bursting with love and gratitude.

On bad days I take in our cityscape — its natural dips and rises, its mix of high rise buildings and tiny houses, its trees, streets and people, its cultures and politics — and my heart feels crushed by anger and frustration.

Any city will do this to its residents on any day — but all city leaders owe it to their citizens to ensure there is more good than bad in our lives. Sadly, the world over, our leaders are failing to deliver — the outcome is our quality of life is now at risk.

Whatever nature is it certainly has a volatile tendency. As the literary critic Terry Eagleton has argued, this instability is a central feature of what we call culture:

Culture is a functionally variable term, in the sense that what may be cultural in one context may not be so in another.

Drinking alcohol is a cultural affair, but it would cease to be so if it was the only way of quenching an intolerable thirst. Survivors of an air crash in some remote terrain who break open the drinks locker are not having a party.

You may wear a head-dress in Qatar as a badge of your cultural identity, but also to avoid getting sunstroke.

Eagleton is very right to point out that cultural practices often toe the line between natural and unnatural, although he does not make the corollary argument — which I am making, that nature itself usually fails to be registered as natural.

It is not that there is no such thing as nature — psychology, physics, geology, chemistry, biology etc. all point towards the definitive existence of something outside of culture, to the existence of a natural world.

Rather, what I would like to focus on is our persistent tendency to misunderstand what is truly meant by the natural — or rather, that nature frequently expresses itself in a decisively cultural sense.

The same problem of what we consider to be natural can be transposed onto the sociological level with the question of intergroup mixing — i.e. the mixing of ethnic or culturally distinct groups of people.

From a nationalistic viewpoint, the mixing of social and cultural groups is inherently unnatural — it corrupts the independent development of a particular identity and interrupts the natural development of a specie.

From an evolutionary perspective, on the other hand, intergroup mixing produced for a broad genetic exchange that allowed us to adapt to natural constraints. In other words, from this perspective the same process of intergroup mixing is deeply natural.

Back to our leaders failing to deliver and putting us all at risk.

Whether in our personal relationships or dynamics, in worker and employer collaborations, or resident and government oversight — the role human nature takes in the dance of give and take has become abusive and destructive.

Between the haves and the have nots, very likely whoever calls the shots is the one with the greater advantage. In a world that increasingly tilts toward transactional gain, consideration and compassion are qualities that are quickly eclipsed and overpowered.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is worryingly correct when, during a 2024 meeting of Pacific Island leaders, he suggested that the scale of the ecological crisis was “unimaginable”.

It is not only unimaginable in that we cannot know the future consequences of the climate catastrophe. It is also that we ultimately fail to recognize or imagine this natural threat without altering and diluting it.

The power of the people is required to ensure that the people in power do not ever resort to abuse or destruction. These times truly test our resolve.

Originally published at http://changewarrior.blogspot.com.

principles & politics was originally published in change warrior on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.