I Gaze Upon the World, and I am Troubled…

I look at the world around me, and I am troubled. I see petty, selfish humans treating each other and the planet with the utmost disrespect. I see raging drivers piloting tons of metal wrapped in kilojoules of kinetic energy, acting as if they were in some digitally created game. I see youth attacking each other and their elders, both with words and with tooth and nail. I see greedy corporations claiming that they have our best interests at heart, but they really mean that they have their best interests at heart, which usually means money. I see tribes of people that hate vehemently other tribes of people simply because their forebearers hated that tribe, or their skin has too much or too little pigment, or they read the wrong sacred scrolls. I see groups following books, scrolls, prophecies that proclaim peace and love, which then go out and kill, burn, insult, in the name of their god(s), prophets, pastors. If you do not follow them, you are destroyed, either in this life or the next. I see foulness spread in the water and on the land; spread in the name of progress, with bland platitudes that there is nothing to be done, or it will cost to much to fix, or we will have to give up too much… I see cellphones, hate, disinterest, apathy, fear, loathing, racism, bigotry, paranoia and I am guilty of all of these, yet I still see them and am troubled. What can be done? What hope is there? Is there hope? Some find hope that a saviour will come and with cleansing fire destroy the evil doers and the sinners and bring paradise to the righteous. What of the others that feel the same way? What if they are right and the first is wrong? What if the Norse were right, and Asgard will be destroyed by frost giants in Ragnorok. Or perhaps Shiva will desroy or maybe the Great Green Arkleseisure will finally wipe its nose. Is this hope? Some do well, “kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight”. They fight ignorance and poverty and fear and hate. Some do it for love, some for a god, some because they know it is right. Others sit there and complain that not enough is being done, yet do nothing (yes, I am in the latter category). I hope that we as humans, as evolved apes will be able to rise above our base animal natures that still drive us, haunt us, force us into patterns and routines that appall us, yet trap us. I hope that we will someday come to recognize that it is not worth driving 150 km an hour and endangering everyone on the road. That it is not worth killing over a few dollars worth of ill-gotten gains. That it is not worth hating someone because they come from a different continent/have different coloured skin/believe something different/love someone of the same gender/are different. That is important to preserve our planet now, so that there is a future for those that will follow us. That it is not worth dying in order to secure a supply of fossilized plant remains so that we can burn them to go places where we will die in order to preserve methane to heat our homes so that we can… This is what I hope…