2025: Is It Time to Redefine Beauty?

I like to envision the kind of world I want

What will the new year bring?

I can’t help but feel a sense of dread when I think about it.

This past year was horrific in so many ways: the ongoing genocide in Gaza, unnecessary wars (aren’t they all), environmental tipping points, homelessness, unaffordability…the list goes on. Let’s face it: it’s a dead end in so many ways.

Do we really want to continue down this path?

To me, 2025 needs to be a fork in the road where we make a big shift. If we’re alive today, it’s our duty to turn things around, and this needs to be the year.

So maybe it’s time to redefine everything, including what we consider to be beautiful. Because the way we see things affects the choices we make. And collectively they make up the world we live in. And we need to live our values and seize our personal power.

For me, peace is beautiful, as is meaningful connection and a planet where all of life can thrive. What’s not to love? How beautiful is that?

What is beautiful is healing: ourselves, each other, our communities, and our life giving planet.

Why is it that here in the west, we’re supposed to want big houses, big cars and lots of money? Why not live in humble but well functioning and connected dwellings in caring communities?

And we need homes for those who have done without for so long. Housing is a human right, and needs to be demonetized.

Once again, here’s my dream home. Imagine: no more having to arrange play dates, gardening together, having game nights, and sharing food sometimes. Wouldn’t that be so much more beautiful than doing it all on our own, with its inherent loneliness and exhaustion?

Imagine a peaceful and green revolution where there’s employment for anyone who wants it, restoring what has been damaged or destroyed? Habitat revitalized, buildings repaired and repurposed, infrastructure restored.

And what about infrastructure? How about we invest in robust and affordable public electric transit, so people can just hop on a bus, train or some other form of public transit to get where ever they need to go? Fewer cars, less stress. Why not?

No one needs billions of dollars, and those who have that much money need to be taxed fairly, so we can fund this stuff.

And make it illegal to commodify for profit life’s essentials such as housing, health care and education. Our taxes should pay for and our governments should regulate these public goods.

So let’s see Green New Deals in the west that truly restructure our economies. No one in our world of abundance should be hungry or homeless. Let’s see a truly just transition, for the west and for the rest of the world.

It’s the only way western governments will have any credibility.

Isn’t that what freedom and democracy are all about?

Shouldn’t we be free to be our authentic selves in the best way possible? Free to prosper and free to explore the things we’re passionate about?

And democracy. Are the governance models we live under actually democratic? When politicians and the press can be bought, I don’t think so. Our elected leaders serve their funders, not the public.

War causes so much damage. Why does it even exist anymore? NATO is hostile and aggressive; there’s nothing defensive about it. Maybe 2025 will see it disintegrate. Why are western countries shovelling so much money into an organization that causes nothing but death and destruction when so many in our countries are hungry, homeless and desperate.

Where are our skilled negotiators? Where are the people we can trust to bring about a fair and peaceful world where we can restore all that has been destroyed?Let’s learn to respect the will of the citizens in each country. Honouring the many and varied cultures that enrich all of us.

Things must change. And here are some ideas about systems that could replace them that actually are truly democratic. Proportional representation makes our votes count. And citizens’ councils are an excellent way to make political choices that are in the best interests of the public.

Is it too late for Canada’s Prime Minister to keep that election promise he made so many years ago to implement proportional representation in Canada’s electoral process? Now that what be a meaningful legacy.

We can live in harmony. We can learn from each other.

And let’s get to the negotiating tables, stop wars and, for crying out loud, let’s stop the genocide in Gaza.

The only thing standing in the way of a world like this is greed and the lust for power. And the people who want these things need to reassess their values. And get some psychiatric help.

A healthy, peaceful, thriving world benefits everyone, even the rich.

And let’s not forget, we have allies all over the world who know what the west is all about. Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the support it’s received from western governments has been an education for many of us. We’re just catching up to the rest of the world, and many are aware of the kind of ‘democracy’ our governments try to impose at gunpoint, sometimes successfully.

What can we do to work towards this? Quite a few things, actually.

• If we’re passionate about any single issue, join a group that’s addressing it. You’ll get so much more milage than going on your own

• Write, talk, demonstrate, and bring awareness to our burning issues in whatever way we can

• Move our money from a bank to a credit union so it will no longer support the military industrial complex but will support your community

• Buy local, organically grown, second hand. Make shopping a rare adventure

• Reject any philosophy that scapegoats people who are already struggling. These kinds of philosophies are tools of those who are exploiting all of us

• Run for office if you’re up for it

• Refuse to vote for any candidate that supports Israel and its genocide

• Find beauty in the minimal, personal, elegant and authentic

• Support unions, community gardens, tool libraries and other forms of solidarity and community

• Stop reading sources of fake news, and watching movies that are propaganda for the military/fossil fuel industrial complex

• Find ways of greening our lifestyles. It’s better for us, costs less, and it’s better for our planet

• Learn about geopolitical issues. That’s where western governments reveal their true nature and intentions

• Above all, be kind. These times are so challenging for so many, it’s the least we can do

Can you imagine if more of us did more of these things? I think we could make a big difference.

Austerity, war and genocide are taking us nowhere. It’s time for a big change in direction.

We all deserve the kind of beauty I’ve described.

So let’s get to it.

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I love the BDS campaign and the effect it’s having on Israel’s economy.

Here's an excellent list of products from Israel: https://boycott.thewitness.news/browse/1

Here's a way to help others not in your bubble to boycott Israel: https://www.cjpme.org/stickies_2024_en

And here's where you can support Palestine by buying a keffiyeh: https://www.hirbawi.ps/