Strange little place, ain't it?
So I was thinking the other day. Imagine being an alien if you will, and viewing earth from an objectionable stance. Sorta from a
The Gods Must Be Crazy viewpoint I was thinking that we are a strange "civilized" society. We have made all these luxuries into necessities. We advance outselves and create new inventions to make out lives easier, when many a time we are complicating things more and more.
We used to be a hunting/gathering society, living simplistically off the land. Now we have computers and high tech jobs and schooling is a necessity. We have to learn all kinds of rules and regulations in order to live appropriately and this doesn't include all the overt and coverts that we have to learn from experience. We now live in a time where paper and pen have largely been replaced by computers. Heaven forbid our server goes down at work. We all have to go home for the day. We put our money in banks, we have this invisible thing called credit, which we can’t live without, and many other "important" things like cars and homes depend upon for purchasing.
We take pills to make ourselves normal; we alter the genes of plants, animals, minerals and humans. We play god. We strive toward an impossible idea of perfection and it seems more and more that we demand this perfection from each other. We mostly depend on cars, airplanes and various forms of public transportation. We are impatient with these methods and seem to have forgotten the days of horses, carriages, wagons, ships and walking. It seems to be unheard of to many of my friends to have to walk more than 20 feet from the car to the building. We fight over the closet spot at the supermarket or mall so as to avoid walking any more than necessary. We are always in a hurry even though we have nowhere to go. We have forgotten about inner beauty and nature and now focus on materialism and image. We don't take time to nurture our souls anymore.
In recent times especially, we need to take an objectionable look at the world. We fight amongst ourselves, within our own countries racism and discrimination are still very present. We have children being abused and neglected and many citizens are without food and shelter. Not only are countries in turmoil within, but so many nations can not get along with others. We all feel that one way is the best and those who don't agree must be wrong. Wars have been going on for years in certain nations. These people don't even know what a day would be like to wake up and not have to fear the surrounding war. When did we become a civilization that needed nuclear and biological warfare? There is so much aggression and blame within people. No one wants to take responsibility or admit that maybe they can change. It is our first instinct to point the finger in the face of accusation.
I don't offer solutions, although I would like to be productive. Many have an attitude that "I am only one person and what difference am I going to make." I feel that way many a time because it is easier to complain that to act or react. I hope as I continue to mature I can find an appropriate, successful outlet for all these feelings. I would like the world to be a better place, although I don't expect perfection. I think some precautions and ideas are well intended although others border on selfish acts, based around seeing if we can rather than if we should. Awareness would be the first step I would guess. I suppose I am just disheartened that many people are unaware that anything is amiss. It is amazing to me how quickly we have accepted the way things are.
