Time is a very precious thing, and I feel I have given a lot of mine to this platform. I would like that time to mean something.
I have already gained a lot from Steemit-- the discovery of my passion for writing being one that I owe the most gratitude. But my intention when joining here was never solely to gain. I wanted, and still want to use this platform as a means to give back to the world.
As my username should suggest, I had planned to simply publish satirical articles, in an attempt to both expose and mock the mainstream media's fantastical attempts at journalism. Exposing truths and providing laughs seemed like what I could best provide to others. I no longer feel this way.
It seems that the recent weeks have brought with them a clarity that was previously unknown to me. It's now difficult to remain ignorant to the fact that what I am contributing to the world is not entirely productive.
Speaking out or bringing attention to iniquity and oppression certainly has its uses. But, it is also bringing light and focus to the shittiest parts of humanity. We have more than enough reminders of how to be the worst possible human beings in society as it is, with Hollywood and Washington leading in that regard. We are running out of reminders on how to be people, and how to recognise that others are people too.
I now know what I can help give to the world, and I also realise that Steemit is the only place it can be achieved, But I cannot do this alone, nor would I want to. So if you will allow me a few more moments of your time to explain how we could use Steemit to accomplish something truly spectacular, and something that I feel is becoming more and more necessary each day, then perhaps you can tell me how you would like to help.
The Proposal
One thing I always appreciated about Steemit was the amount of thinkers and skeptics that all seemed to be drawn to this place. I often thought on how that concentrated population of forward-thinkers could best be brought together to do something revolutionary, but was unable to conceptualize anything worthy of mentioning. I believe that to have changed.
Steemit has grown since I first began thinking on this, but I know that those minds I mentioned are still out there. I am suggesting that we take the opportunity to use this platform to create something beautiful, and something that will be a rare example of how to be better, in a world of decreasing morality.
I am proposing that we make use of the greatest minds on Steemit for the purpose of creating a great work of literature. A compendium of sorts, composed of individual writings by -- hopefully -- a multitude of Steemit authors.
This work would be based on the observable truth that; human behaviour is learned, and there is an overwhelming disparity between examples of good and bad behaviour to learn from in modern society.
For this reason, the writings would revolve around morality and how to be the best person you can possible be. Of course, this is not a Bible, and wouldn't include any lessons on vengeance, punishment or blood sacrifice. The idea is to omit examples of negative human behaviour entirely, and simply focus on consolidating a series of positive thinking, morally sound examples of how to think, feel and act better.
We all have lessons we can share, and when lay next to one another in one publishing, perhaps they will not all align perfectly. But this is okay, because they are not supposed to. They would not be examples of how to be better per se, for only a supreme being could provide us with such irrefutable words. Moreover, they would be examples of humans demonstrating their willingness to question their own moralities, and therefor inspire others to attempt to reattune their own moral compasses that have been skewed by modern society, while adhering to their own personal beliefs.
Steemit is perfect for this, not only because I have witnessed first hand the writings of the minds I know will be able to come together and build this, but because Steemit may very well be able to provide us with the means to crowdfund and publish this book upon completion. Though, I think it would best serve the purpose it is supposed to if we leave our vanity aside and publish the book, should it be completed, anonymously. From the individual pieces contained therein, to the book itself, there would be no names. Only a title, and perhaps a single paragraph to explain what the purpose of the book is.
The word humanity is supposed to mean someone with compassion, but I am not sure we deserve such a definition in our current state of division and disconnection. But, thanks to this platform and the people it has drawn to it, we may be able to provide people with a reminder on how to be human and earn the definition of humanity.
I will be adding individual pieces to this work in the coming weeks, and I hope that many of you will too. All one would need to do is write a piece based on morality or how one should think/act/feel in contrast to how society leads one to. We can organize everyone's pieces rather simply by using the tag #howtobehuman.
Please keep in mind that the goal is to focus only on positive ways to think and act, while drawing attention away from reminders of how humans can act against the interests of each other.
Hopefully I am seeing some trending #howtobehuman posts soon. I will be keeping an eye on the tag and hope to learn how to be a better human from some of you. We can talk further on how to proceed, and also on a title, once the minds who will write this thing have presented themselves.
If you do not feel you are able to contribute towards this work of literature, consider resteeming this post, as you will still have helped us build it if one of your followers turns out to be the one that can.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this, and to those who will be making use of the tag to help us use Steemit for something more. Let's give the world something it needs, and that we have the power to give them.
That's a truly great idea buddy.
I'd love to see Steemit become a place of learning and morality.
Let's hope the tag takes off. I'll be looking out for it.
Interesting project.
As you noted, the World is so full of inconsiderate actions over the most basic of human rights (and more...) that it feels like it overshadows what Humanity truly could be.
This could be a great way to show it and remember us that we, as a whole, can be kind, considerate, truthful and essentially human. Hopefully, this project can reveal what being human really means!
That tag better get busy! I'll do my best to contribute.
Yes, you pretty much summed up the purpose of it in a much more concise manner than I was able to. This is why I am sure any contribution from you will be worthwhile.
Thanks! Much appreciated.
awesome... i upvoted and followed you ...plz you do the same..
Very Interesting idea. To promote humanity related article we need this type of tag. Thanks for it.
I love this idea! I haven't posted much recently, & have only had time to read a bit and occasionally comment. But ideas have started mulling...
@michelle.gent and @s0u1 have their own publishing house Gingernut Books, originally set up so Michelle could self publish. So they would be good people to talk to, if and when it comes to that. It doesn't look you're following either of them, or vice versa. But I'll resteem and hopefully they'll see it.
I am sure such a project would take some amount of time to complete. That is, if we want it to be worthwhile. So, you may get time to add something yourself when you are less busy. Thanks a lot for the info, though. And for spreading the word.
I have been really busy myself the last couple of days, but will be adding to the tag starting tomorrow. Hopefully that will spark some others to start contributing too.
The glitching has been my problem, more than being busy. This morning it was out for a long time, so I left to do other things.
It is a great idea. And I know someone I can ask for a resteem, in fact change two of the tags to steemgigs and steemuntalented. Terry, @surpassinggoogle, is always looking for ways to get the community involved in positive things. Ned delegated him a ton of sp for his projects, I bet he would support this one. If you aren't following him, that would probably be a good idea too.
Here's one of his posts about steemuntalented: https://steemit.com/untalented/@steem-untalented/the-most-historical-human-bot-account-for-organic-human-curation-by-the-untalented-family