Changes in History

"And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order to things; for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old order as his enemies; and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new. This lukewarmness partly stems from fear of their adversaries, who have the law on their side, and partly from the skepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have personal experience in them." -- Niccolo Machiavelli

My old friend, Machiavelli, you have yet to run out of ways to speak to me. Any of you that know me intimately know that I want nothing more than to change everything. Such a simple desire, for a simple girl, constantly met with unmeasurable, insurmountable, frustrations at every turn. Machiavelli knew, if you wished to change any situation among a group of individuals, large or small, there was a monumental struggle to be had. The revolutionary did, and always will stand alone on the shore, waiting for the waves of change to wash away the debris of the old rule. If you look back into the history of our nations, you will find every major change that has come about has been by the hand of a single individual. At the end of their dream of change and a better life, they are often faced not with success and glory, but hardships, and often death. It is not until after this one beacon of change has gone from our view, that the people effected by his message take hold of their beliefs and put the change into action. I don't know that I will ever understand why things happen this way, perhaps it is just that we must first have our eyes opened, and then have our fears transformed into anger by the death, or mistreatment of someone we admired on a secret, quiet, but deep and untouchable level. Perhaps it is sacrifice that is required for us to believe a truth is worth embracing. It strikes me, that it may be easier to find corruption among a group than in an individual. Not to say there have not been corrupt individuals, but a large majority of social political corruption stems from the many, and a great deal of the positive social revolutions stem from the one. I by no means claim to be a expert on the subject, but through the knowledge of history I do have, it seems to be the norm. There are of course, always exceptions to the rules, there are plenty of serial killers and powerful men (lets be plain and say Hitler) that were corruption in and of themselves. In an over all sample of social political history, the many seem to fuel each other with greed and power and lies of glory to corrupt the individuals, that make up the corrupt whole. The truly knowledgeable individuals that are driven to change history for the better seem to have always stood alone through their lives, not driven into power by the use of an organization or any other sort of gathering of people. The old adage applies, two wrongs don't make a right. A collection of naturally flawed human beings does not add up to a moral core.
All in all, this observation by Machiavelli allows me to realize, even on a small scale, why we run into so many walls when attempting to move forward in our lives. Change and progress is not something that is easily accepted by the people around us, even if they are ones that love us. On a large scale, change is even more difficult to accomplish, because you are dealing with individuals that have no care for you at all. It is perhaps something we should all realize, but more often than not, ever take the time to understand why it happens. When you come to terms with why things happen, they are much easier to deal with both on an emotional and physical level.