There is an infinite number of bad systems within the world for which we could point a finger to and declare that it has had a negative effect on our lives.
Education systems Social ideologies Economic systems
If it were up to the system to decide how your life goes, then that is the case. It is self-fulfilling and true. The only way to be happy is to dismantle the system, get onto the other side of the system, or build a new one which benefits you.
Systems are hard to change, they are slow to change, and they scale. Can agency scale?
I’m not sure if agency could ever become the solution for every, but it can be the solution for any. It may never replace systems, but it does help individuals. Agency can’t be bestowed or taught, it is lived.
The education system produces people who are compliant and reliant on its access to knowledge. It wants you to believe that you must be taught in order to learn. And that you must learn what is taught. This system preaches the empowering of individuals while crippling them with the slow drain of agency. A critique of permission.
Agency is your protection from bad systems. Agency is checking out from the belief that systems are responsible for taking care of you. Agency is deciding for yourself that only you can judge the value of your life. The things you are capable of, the skills, resources and knowledge you acquire, the life you can build. All of this lay within the grasp of your hands. You can save yourself.
Agency does not fix systems, it does not absolve you of the unfair difficulties or others of their unfair advantages. It moves the lever from the unseen hand of the system to your own. It means that instead of being subject to underlying currents and shifting winds, the ship is under your control. You may face difficulties navigating, but you still steer your life.