The World Deserves More
It seems that every time I open Facebook or turn on the news, I am flooded with a wave of negativity, one that lands on my chest like an anchor carving into the seafloor, and it fills my lungs with a drowning, breath-stealing mixture of fear, sorrow, and anger. Each time we see some new act of violence, the light seems to dim from our hearts, and it begs the question from everyone around me, “What is the world coming to?”
The dejected truth is that it is not the world at fault; it is ourselves.
Humanity, a species often praised for its intellect and high-functioning society, has come to a time in which violence is a normality. Just the thought makes my stomach churn.
Of course, sadly, violence has been around for a long time. Even in the successful societies we have today, we still try to pretend that the horrors from our past simply vanished and the ones that exist today are invisible.
People can be hurtful, violent, immature, inconsiderate, and hateful. People believe in their own opinions, and while stubbornness can be a good trait, it can corrupt a situation with only one assumption, with one misspoken word. Especially recently, it is difficult for people to agree.
As a species, I would hope that we can agree on one simple thing: we have a problem, and it is our responsibility to fix it.
It does not matter that many of our issues were born centuries ago, nor does it matter that our ancestors could have been contributors to the hate; it is our duty as human beings to stand up for what’s right and make the world safe.
We cannot continue to live in a place that has so much fear and violence. We should not be afraid to walk outside of our own homes. We should not be destroying each other just to find a place for ourselves. We are a community, a family.
Each time I see another shooting or suicide, I grieve for our species. We have the potential to do so much with what we have, and instead of using our strength to create kindness, we possess hate.
Earth is not a person with intellectual capacities, but I think our planet understands kindness versus hate and violence versus peace. So each time those vile words leave a person’s mouth, each time a gun spits out a bullet only to cause pain, the world can feel that.
So what is the world coming to?
She is only waiting for us to open our eyes and our hearts to what is truly important. She deserves more than what we have given her.
We deserve more, too. But some people do not have the guts to see that.
