Stage one
It's like a constant annoying drone or a splinter too small to pick out easily. The world is out of joint but you just cannot put your finger on exactly what it is that's bothering you. It's fairly easy to ignore, so you do. For a while.
The thing about systems crumbling is that tiny bits begin to fall off at first. These tiny bits are very easy to dismiss, as in 'There's more homeless people in downtown that I remember seeing last year,' then you put your pedal to the metal and drive on. You see prices beginning to rise in the shops because your currency is buying less and less every season, but the head of state is on the box saying the economy is fine and things are only getting better, so you change the channel. Then, larger chunks begin to break off - someone you actually know gets laid off or loses their house or gets arrested on a charge completely out of proportion to the offense they allegedly committed and it all seems to be a bit more personal and closer to home.
Then one day it reaches a critical mass. Someone or something brings the truth home to you - and you immediately shut down. It's too horrible to think about but still...despite all the mental evasions, the rationalising, the justifications, you inexorably find yourself moving to...
Stage two
Anger. Some are angry at the person with the new view of reality. They tend to vehemently demonise the people who are actively engaged in seeking truth as a group of tinhats, liberals, crazy people, idiots. They cling to the status quo they have become accustomed to but still, something has shifted in their lives at a molecular level. The new view isn't comfortable, but they find they are no longer at ease with the reality they hate to give up, either. It doesn't feel like home to be there anymore. They now have two choices; stay angry at the people with the new view of reality or move on to feel anger at the people in power.
Loads of people who are angry at the people in power get stuck there. They are the ones most frequently bitching away on blogs and forums - griping, moaning, shit-stirring - yet never actually doing anything but endlessly rehashing the problem. Once in a while, a few make it out and generally find themselves at Stage three...
Despair. People self-medicate or commit suicide or bore the socks off people at parties who generally aren't ready to have their world rocked. It's a very lonely stage. Many people never move beyond it. The ones who do find themselves washed up on the shore of
Stage four
Doing something. You are one person. Do what one person can do. Do not wait around to be told what to do, or wait on others to do it for you. You, alone, are more powerful than you know. Tap that power, it's there.
Whether leaving or staying, people at stage four find it's useless to trumpet their beliefs to all and sundry because - believe me - nobody's really listening. We are assaulted on a daily basis by people willing to spend vast sums of money getting and keeping our attention, from the major media to every commercial enterprise you can think of. There's no point in competing with them for people's attention and it's a complete waste of energy to try. Yet if someone asks what you think and believe about the world, answer as truthfully as you know how. You cannot convince anyone to accept what you know, you can only point them in the direction where they can discover the truth for themselves.
Sometimes a person has to pick their battles. For myself, the fight to save the country I grew up in has been left too late, by too many. The next logical step for me was to get out of the way of the steamroller. I am small. I stay small. But I am not weak. Nor am I powerless.
For anyone considering their next move I would recommend that you must be willing to risk everything you possess. I am not saying that price will be extracted from you at the end - but you should be prepared for it to be. You must get yourself into the mindset of 'I am willing to risk everything for what I most desire.'
The world is what we make it, one individual at a time. I want to add to the sum total of beauty in it. A little at a time if that's all I can manage to accomplish. I decided a long time ago that I would be doing that anyway no matter what else was going on.