Mr. John Koelsch - UBUNTU: I Am Because We Are

UBUNTU

I Am Because We Are

By John Koelsch

Copyright 2019 by John Koelsch

UBUNTU, I Am Because We Are, 1st Edition.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by the Brooklyn Writers Press in Brooklyn, NY.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-9896037-2-0 (e-book)

ISBN 978-0-9896037-3-7 (paperback)

LCCN 2019913651

www.brooklynwriterspress.com

www.johnkoelsch.com

Contents

This work was written first and foremost for my grandchildren and their children. I hope they will have a world to live in that will that will be better than the one we have now. I also wrote this for the rest of my family, my countrymen, and all Homo sapiens on this planet. My hope is we can see progress for everyone and establish governments that rule by the consent of the governed and not just the influence of the wealthy and powerful. This was the intent and hope of the founding father of the United States. We have not accomplished that intent.

At the heart of what they wished to accomplish was a society dedicated to universal equity, which would allow everyone to have the right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. While we have made some progress in that regard, we are woefully short of attaining it.

I ask myself, How can I be happy if my brother and sister are unhappy? This book is dedicated to all of you in the hope that you will understand and undertake the awesome task of leaving a better world for our children.

Robert Kennedy once said, Its not sufficient just saying,

Well I dont like the way things are going.
We have a responsibility to offer an alternative.

Dear Reader,

First, let me note that I am from here and we are all in trouble. When I say I am from here, I mean I am a member of the species Homo sapiens , indigenous to this planet. I also mean that all Homo sapiens are in trouble.

We possess the means to destroy all life on this planet. We have been working on it for a very long time, under the delusion that we are protecting ourselves from one another. In that millennium-long process, we created organizations that feed and protect us, which quickly led to the formation of armies to fight other armies in order to conquer and rule, and not just survive. Empires rose, prospered, ruled and fell. We tried multiple approaches and always the same cycle and the same result.

This is especially troubling after establishing a government that is allegedly of the people, by the people, and for the people. I fear for the world my grandchildren will inherit, if they inherit anything at all. The United States has been a world leader for over a century, and yet we are now dysfunctional. So much so, that the current regime appears focused on two things. First, dismantling every program our government has created for the people, including healthcare, social security, environmental protection, and so on. Second, to divert every dollar possible to the wealthiest one percent and to corporations. This, while our country makes every effort to distance itself from its allies, and is embracing dictators and fascist regimes.

This book presents an alternative, albeit my alternative. It can change the structure of our government and allow us to get back on track in pursuit of a nation that is governed by the consent of the governed, which honors Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness for all. It is a viable, bloodless and relatively peaceful alternative to effecting change at the national level.

We have consistently accepted the notion that electing better representatives is the answer. But electing better representatives will not make a significant impact in a system that is corrupted in ways that will not allow advancements to take place. We see blood and violence week-after-week that is driven by leadership aiming to divide and confuse, all the while, raiding the treasury without respect for law, decency or humanity. In short, the United States is changing for the worse. We need to re-establish our government as a functional organization that serves that delivers on the promise of our founding fathers.

The changes I propose can help correct our path and enable us, as a nation, to deal effectively with the problems we face. This change however may be the most difficult challenge ever faced by a country. It may prove tougher than a Civil War, a war to end all wars, and keeping nuclear power in check. But it is a change we must embrace, and to know where to begin we must first understand where we came from and how we got here. That is the purpose of this book. This book speaks a truth that needs to be heard, discussed and ultimately acted upon. I believe the truth it contains is the only non-violent path that will enable us to work effectively to save our country, ourselves and future generations to come.

I ask you to read it with an open mind and an open heart. I also ask you to respond with your thoughts and ideas about how to peacefully accomplish what needs to be done. You can contact me via my website at johnkoelsch.com if you would like to share your ideas with me.

Peace,

John Koeslch

Leadership is not about being in charge and giving orders, or yelling and raving about desired results. A leader is simply someone who sees a situation, recognizes what needs to be done to achieve a desirable outcome and does what is required to achieve that result.

TAC Officer

I was the second son born into a Roman Catholic family and the third child born from my mothers fourth pregnancy. Unlike my siblings, I was allowed and encouraged to explore the world and got by with little to no discipline. This allowed me the freedom to experiment and screw things up, and to examine things for what I saw them to be, and not for how I was told they were.

At the age of thirteen I left home to attend Divine Word Seminary and began my studies to become a Roman Catholic missionary priest. That year, I started to consider how I wanted my life to unfold and how I wanted to live it, which is not the same question as what I wanted to do. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to live as a leader and guide people to achieve better results in order to lead more productive lives. By the time I was enrolled at Divine Word College I had come to two realizations. First, priests were not concerned with leadership, only control. Second, they had no clue how to help anyone live a better life; they only taught others how to comply with their views or face eternal punishment. It became obvious to me that the church was interested in the prosperity and advancement of the church far more than the salvation of a single soul. This would be my first encounter with the power of belief being utilized for the power to rule without any relevance to factual reality.

For a time, after leaving, I was rudderless, but I realized the predicament I was in. I was eighteen-years-old, not enrolled in an academic program, and subject to being drafted into a war I knew nothing about. I was fairly certain I did not want to be shot, so I enlisted for a non-combat assignment. And yet, through a series of small, seemingly inconsequential and unrelated decisions, I gave up my guaranteed non-combat assignment (in writing) and enrolled in Infantry Officer Candidate School. There I received my first real training on leadership.