Michael Snyder, Contributor

Activist Post

How are you going to spend your life? When it is all said and done, how will history remember you? Unfortunately, these days most people do not spend much time thinking about those kinds of questions. Most people just kind of stumble through life without any clear direction or meaning.

Sadly, our society makes it far too easy to remain “comfortably numb” the vast majority of the time. We are absolutely addicted to entertainment and there is more of it available today than ever before – television, movies, music, video games, sports events, food, gambling, shopping – the outlets for feeding our addictions are seemingly endless. But do you really want to spend your life feeding your addictions and keeping yourself entertained as much as possible?

The following is a saying that has stayed with me my entire life: “Life is like a coin – you can spend it any way that you want, but you can only spend it once.” If the fact that we are all hurtling through space on this giant rock is just some kind of cosmic accident and life really does not have any meaning, then yes it would make sense to fill up our lives with as much pleasure as possible before we die. But if life really does have meaning, and the things that we do today can have a permanent impact on the future, then perhaps many of us need to start thinking about what kind of legacy we are going to leave behind once we are gone.

Most people don’t think too much about this, but the reality is that we all have the privilege to be living during one of the most amazing times in all of human history.

For decades, it has seemed as though history has been slowly building toward some sort of crescendo. The pace of change just keeps getting faster and faster and faster, and our world is becoming incredibly unstable.

Just look around you. Virtually everything that can be shaken is being shaken.

The economy is falling apart, the fabric of society is starting to come apart at the seams, war in the Middle East could erupt at any moment and the planet itself is shaking in unprecedented ways.

All you have to do is look at a population chart to realize that we are living during an absolutely unprecedented time….

Back in 1800, there were about 1 billion people in the world. Today, there are about 7 billion. Do you know what that means?

It means that we potentially have the opportunity to touch more lives than anyone else ever has before.

The amount of suffering in the world today is absolutely mind blowing.

Did you know that 3 billion people survive on the equivalent of $2.50 or less every single day? There are hundreds of millions of people that do not have enough to eat today. There are hundreds of millions of people that do not have clean water. All over the globe children will go digging around in public trash dumps today to try to find something to eat or something to sell.

Countless numbers of children have been sold into slavery and live every day without hope. In some areas of the globe, children are purposely blinded with acid by their masters so that they will make more money for them begging on the streets. Other children are chained to beds as an endless parade of sick perverts pay to have sex with them.

When you start realizing the horrors that are going on in our world, it makes it a bit more difficult to live your life only for yourself.

Tonight, there will be millions upon millions of people all over the globe on the verge of suicide because they think that life is hopeless.

Do you ever think about them?

Tonight, there will be millions upon millions of children all over the globe that will be abused by their parents or by close relatives.

Do you ever say a prayer for them?

There are so many people out there that could use a little love. Millions are rotting away their lives in prisons – including a lot of people that are completely innocent. Millions spend lonely day after lonely day in “retirement homes” without anyone ever coming to visit them.

This very night there will be families sleeping on the streets of every major American city.

Do you ever think about them while you are sleeping in your warm bed?

In North Korea, it is estimated that somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 people are incarcerated in nightmarish gulags. In many cases, entire families have been imprisoned because one family member said or did something that a government official took the wrong way. In order to survive, many of the prisoners eat “plants, grass, bark, rats, snakes, the food-stuffs of the labor camp farm animals.”

But it is not just North Korea that is sick and twisted.

The truth is that the entire global system is deeply corrupt and this has caused massive amounts of suffering all over the globe.

So instead of living your life selfishly, why don’t you make your life something to remember? Decide to be a light in the darkness.

Thanks to technology, it is easier for the average person to make a difference than ever before. In the old days, the elite pretty much had a monopoly on mass communication. But today the Internet has totally changed that. Something that you post on the Internet today could end up being seen by tens of millions of people. Without ever leaving the comfort of your own home, you could literally change lives on the other side of the world.

Ideas are incredibly powerful, and today we are in the middle of a global information war. Use the Internet to make a difference while you can, because the free and open Internet will not be around forever. Already the elite are taking steps to clamp down on it. That is why you hear so much chatter about SOPA and ACTA and CISPA. The powers-that-be do not like what the Internet has turned into and they want to get it under control.

Even now, everything that you do on the Internet is being watched by governments all over the world. But that is no reason to quit spreading the truth. Perhaps some of the “watchers” will even be persuaded by what you have to say.

It is when times are the darkest that the greatest heroes are needed. The world has become a very dark place and things are going to get a lot darker before it is all said and done. But that just means that we need as many heroes as possible.

The great war between good and evil is reaching a climax. Do you want to spend your life doing things that will make a permanent difference, or do you want to spend your life on your couch staring at your television?

History is not going to care how much stuff you were able to accumulate.

But if you are able to make a true difference in the lives of others that will definitely count for something.

When people tell me that they are “bored”, that just blows me away because I honestly don’t know how anyone could be bored in this day and age. We live during one of the most exciting times in all of human history, and I know that I could easily fill up three or four times as many hours in the day.

There is always more that could be learned and more that could be done.

All over the world, the darkness is growing, and it is going to continue to grow. You can choose to curse the darkness, or you can choose to shine your light in that darkness. The choice is up to you. You don’t need to be famous to make a difference. Neither do you need an audience of thousands upon thousands of people.

The truth is that every single person that is reading this has the ability to make a difference.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In a previous article, I listed some of the things that you can do right now to start making a difference….

Talk to your family.

Talk to your friends.

Share the truth on Facebook.

Share the truth on Twitter.

Join an organization.

Go on a march.

Write a letter to the editor.

Write a letter to your representatives in Congress.

Run for office.

Start a blog.

Start a website.

Make YouTube videos.

Make new friends.

Connect with new people.

Feed the homeless.

Visit those who are hurting.

Give to someone in need.

Volunteer for a cause.

Pass out fliers.

Pass out books.

Pass out DVDs.

Give a speech.

Send out emails.

Write a book.

Make a movie.

In the Declaration of Independence we find the following statement….

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

All men, women and children (including the unborn) all over the planet were created equal. They all deserve to be loved and protected. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is becoming very, very cold. All throughout society, people have become greedy, selfish, boastful, proud, abusive, disrespectful, hateful, unforgiving and cruel. People have become addicted to pleasure and to all of the good things that our debt-fueled prosperity can buy.

Where are all of the strong men and women that are willing to put God, family and country before themselves?

Where are all of the strong men and woman that are willing to stand up for what is right even if it is going to cost them everything?

The years ahead are going to be incredibly hard. Millions of those that are living only for themselves are going to have their lives absolutely shattered by what is coming.

But if you have a purpose that is bigger than yourself, you will likely find that the years ahead will be absolutely teeming with meaning and adventure.

So how will history remember you?

Hopefully it will remember you as someone of great love. Hopefully it will remember you as someone that loved God, family and country. Hopefully it will remember you as someone that made a difference in the lives of others.

You only have one life.

Spend it wisely.

“Life is like a coin – you can spend it any way that you want, but you can only spend it once.”

This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.