In this Article:
- What can we learn from Gone with the Wind quotes about today’s challenges?
- How do apathy and procrastination hinder global progress?
- Why are win-win solutions crucial for tackling issues like climate change and healthcare?
- How can each of us embrace responsibility and contribute to collective change?
- What does it mean to connect with the “better angels of our nature”?
Frankly, My Dear, I Don’t Give A Damn
by Marie T. Russell, InnerSelf.com
This sentence from the movie Gone with the Wind (Frankly, my dear,, I don't give a damn) has become part of the American culture. And unfortunately part of our mindset.
In the movie, the dashing Rhett Butler utters that statement to Scarlet O’Hara as he walks out the door. This then engenders another famous line as she comments to herself that she must find a way to get him back, and that she’ll think about it tomorrow, “after all tomorrow is another day”.
A Cultural Mindset of Apathy or Delay
And as I reflect on the situation in our world… whether with the climate crisis, the political crisis, the health care crisis, the minimum wage crisis, etc., I realize that these two responses are what the American public (and perhaps people world-wide) are defaulting to.
For some people, they've given up and just don’t give a damn. Their comment is they will soon die, and the problem(s) will belong to their children and other people’s children. So these people have abdicated any responsibility. If we break up the word into “response-ability”, we understand that they have abdicated their power to respond, or their ability to respond and make a difference.
Another group of the population falls in the Scarlett O’Hara persona… “I don’t know what to do… I’ll think about it tomorrow… after all tomorrow is another day”, which is unfortunately where many of us fall. We find the situation too much to handle, to bear, to decipher, and decide to postpone thinking about it to “tomorrow” or until a new event or crisis draws our attention to it yet again. And then we either go the Rhett Butler route of saying we don’t care, or the Scarlett O’Hara one of saying we’ll think about it "tomorrow". Yet, also in popular language is the expression “tomorrow never comes”.
Abdicating Responsibility and Not Caring?
But let’s reflect on the first attitude of not giving a damn… If you watch the movie clip as Rhett storms out of the house while uttering his famous line… we see that he does care. If he didn’t care why would be be angry? Why would he leave so precipitously? Obviously he cares, and that’s why he feels he must leave as he sees no resolution, he feels the situation is out of his control. And that leads him to anger, despair, and perhaps disappointment in the ways things, and people, are.
Can you relate to this? I can. So many of the world’s problems are big ones, and it can be easy to feel a lack of power, a lack of control over any of it. Big problems, we may think, require big solutions -- not just one person doing their part.
Yet, when each of us does our part, when each of us cares and shows we care through loving actions, when each of us contributes in whatever way we can to the upliftment of life around us, then it does make a difference. Each small action is a part of the bigger puzzle, and each piece of the puzzle leads the way to a new picture, a new perspective, a new end result.
Don't Give Up
So let’s not give up and pretend we don’t care, when our heart is broken with pain, and filled with disappointment, fear, and confusion. We may not understand why people act the way they do. We may think we would act differently in their situation. Yet, if we can step away from the judgment, the blame, the criticism, and instead look for common ground, or win-win situations, we will discover a way out of the turmoil we find ourselves in.
Now, to some of you, this may sound like a Pollyanna dream, and while it may be, the alternative is giving up. And I don’t feel that’s an alternative at all. We are here on earth to play our part in this huge melodrama that is unfolding. This is improv theater at its best (or its worst).
Yet the beauty of improv theater is that each new line, each new action has the power to change the direction of the whole play, of the whole message that is imparted to the audience. And since we are both actors and audience in the improvisation of Life on Earth as we know it, let’s direct our lines and our actions in the direction of a harmonious solution.
Let’s not add fuel to the fire by spitting out blame, judgment, and anger. Let’s look for solutions that work for all. In the case of climate change, solutions that are good for the people, the environment, and the business world. Same for healthcare. Same for political and governmental institutions.
Seeking Win-Win Solutions
There is always a win-win solution for any situation. And if we can move away from just thinking of what works for us personally, or for “our side”, and look for solutions that work for all concerned, then we can make a positive difference.
By looking for win-win solutions and sharing them with others and thus putting those thoughts out into the “ethers”, we contribute to the solution. Other people may not have the imagination or the creativity needed to come up with win-win situations as they may be enmeshed in a “my way or the highway” mentality. But the win-win solutions are there. We need to find them, dream them up, and project them out into the world so that others can “magically” come up with that same solution.
Our part is to be the dreamers. Which of course reminds me of John Lennon’s “You may say that I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one.”
So yes, let’s dream up win-win situations for all… the poor and the rich; the healthy and the sick; the motivated and the unmotivated, and everything and everyone in between. Let’s dream up the solutions. Let’s share them with others, in person, on social media, in our thoughts, in our meditations, our prayers, our hopes and dreams.
Let’s empower ourselves and the other players in the improv movie of Life on Earth to have access to better ideas, to higher hopes, to bigger visions of a better world for all.
It can be done. We can do our part by dreaming it, “seeing it”, and believing in its possibility, and of course, taking action as required.
The Time to Act Is Now
Giving up in not an option! Well, OK, it is an option, but not one that we should accept as ours. While we are alive, we are participants in this life. Let’s not stand on the sidelines watching the train wreck. Let’s not walk away in anger or despair or confusion. Let’s face the chaos and choose to do something about it, to participate in any way we can to make a difference, not only for ourselves but for the common good of all.
As another famous songwriter (Bob Marley) told us: “Get up, stand up, don’t give up your right.” So let’s not give up our right to a happy, healthy, loving reality of the Garden of Eden, or heaven on Earth. Let’s not give up and let chaos or hell on earth be our reality. The choice, as always, is ours.
The time is now. The power for change is ours. Tomorrow is not another day… tomorrow is now and now is all that exists. So what can we do now? What can we envision now? How can we change the direction of our thoughts (and consequently the thoughts of others) now?
Seek within and the answers are there… for all of us. Contact your Higher Self, the “better angel of your nature” and let its loving guidance show you the way. Remember however, love can also be tough love. Don’t mistake love for the mushy gooey Valentine day’s version of love. Love for yourself and for the planet and for all of humanity may need to be tough love, but love nevertheless.
Let's remember what President Abraham Lincoln said in his 1861 inaugural address when addressing the rift between the North and South with its very different ideologies:
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Let’s connect with our better angels and those of others, embrace them, and work together to create a brighter, more loving world. It can be done! Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!
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About The Author
Marie T. Russell is the founder of InnerSelf Magazine (founded 1985). She also produced and hosted a weekly South Florida radio broadcast, Inner Power, from 1992-1995 which focused on themes such as self-esteem, personal growth, and well-being. Her articles focus on transformation and reconnecting with our own inner source of joy and creativity.
Creative Commons 3.0: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. Attribute the author: Marie T. Russell, InnerSelf.com. Link back to the article: This article originally appeared on InnerSelf.com
Article Recap:
This article uses quotes from Gone with the Wind to explore societal tendencies toward apathy and delay in addressing pressing global challenges like climate change and inequality. It emphasizes the importance of responsibility, collective action, and creating win-win solutions that work for everyone. The author calls on readers to embrace their power to make a difference by connecting with the better angels of our nature and fostering a spirit of cooperation and love, even in challenging times.
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