I Want To Believe

I want to believe that humankind is inherantly good. I want to believe that we are learning and progressing toward a better world. I want to believe that we are evolving mentally as well as emotionally. I want to believe that most humans want peace and love.

Each day I read the top new stories, and while there have always been terrible behavior, violent and henious crimes, brutal murders, etc, it just seems so pointless and prevalent lately. People are getting killed over road rage, over being picked on, over simple arguments, over a friggin tree-stand while hunting, over job dis-satisfaction, over percieved and minor injustices. And usually most of those killed are innocent of any wrong doing and are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Add into this the incredibly obvious corruption in most world governments, in almost all of the worldwide corporate entities, the major religions, violent and brain-dead sports fans, some dishonest and brutal law enforcement angencies, businesses both large and small that ignore customer service and doing the right thing until forced into it and even some agencies dedicateds to helping people, that turn around and jack up the cost of operations until thier founders/committee are rich. It is a crazy world, and I can't help but think we are moving backwards in our evolution, instead of forwards, as we once were...

Religion isn't helping. It's just giving people an excuse to place blame, point fingers, condemn and feel self-righteous. Science and technology aren't helping. They are just making us less like good neighbors and more like suspicious and hostile hermits, with poor work ethics, and the need to be pampered and coddled. It just seems the world becomes more morally corrupt, irresponsible, selfish, destructive and greedy each day, and people are soaking up this atmosphere and snapping. We are reverting back to the "dark ages" of human behavior, instead of stepping upwards toward a more unified and peaceful world.

Now I see people viewing compassion, love and kindness as faults..as "wimpy" behavior. I see people viewing those that sincerely care about nature labeled as bleeding hearts or tree-huggers. I see those that volunteer to help the ill or the poor being thought of as fools or losers. Those that don't care about money are certain to be labeled as failures, no matter what good they do in the world. Is this what we are teaching our children? Is this what we want for our future? Respect those that crush all others under foot and die with the biggest bank account? To think only of one's self to succeed? To be "tough" and "hard"? To force others to act as you do, to believe what you believe? To never look to yourself for faults, but instead always blame others. To be a man is to be violent, macho, ignorant and/or foolhardy? To close ones mind to any other possibilty than the one taught to you be some sound byte or infomercial? To not think for yourself, but do as your told by corporate fat-cats?

I know these are extreme examples, but I also know, from friends and family, that I'm not the only one despairing for our future as a race...

Whew..just needed to get that off my chest. I now return you to your normally broadcast ignorant sitcom or young, beautiful and dumb reality show.

I dont think the majority will ever be the cream of the crop and so expect more of the same in in millenium 21-22

PS.. I bet the smart dinosaurs were thinking the same thing you are right now

There goes my coffee!! Rarely have more valid words been spoken.

David, your post really touched me. I want to believe the same things that you want to believe, but it is very difficult when so much of what humanity does is so ugly.

I think that we are a very foolish and self destructive species. I hope that we can learn and grow but if not, evolution will take it's course and I'm sure the planet will spin on quite happily without us.

Who knows what will happen. I personally wish for much the same, but I dont think it's in this species. Maybe another will evolve that isnt so bent on killing once we have came through and made the world safer by killing off all the dangerous species and it's all kitties and puppies running around.

We are a conquering species and we are here to dominate. We have changed the course of the planets evolution and maybe that's all we are here for is to pave the way for something else. Thats if you believe there are patterns in the chaos

One Quote: "Money is the Root of all Evil." And the CEO is a prime example of our steadily declining morales and American Dream. They are taking away retirement..benefits..contracting and outsourcing for the bottom line of their Yearly Bonuses in disregard of others. People are getting fed up! In Virginia employees have no rights..no retribution for wrongful termination. The Government does nothing to stop this because they are being paid off..we are heading further and further towards a split in the few rich and the majority of poverty. The middle class is slowly declining. If they push to far..we may well be headed towards another Civil War.

Think what you may..those that are doing well and do not see this or refuse to, however; Politics will when it hits you..knock you so far for a loop the loss will be intolerable then you will see the light.

I think...

To put things into a slightly different perspective, the American media has increasingly gravitated toward the sensational. IMO, this is a direct result of an exponential increase in the number of news outlets and channels fighting for a shrinking market share. Sensationalism sells, so while it may appear that heinous behavior is on the rise, recent govt. statistics that I've come across seem to indicate that key indicators, like the overall crime rate, are remaining flat or are even declining. It's just that the media are rooting out, and reporting on (dare I say "promoting", more of what was previously "under the radar."

That said, I think back to the Nuremberg trials for some insights into the nature of humankind. What shocked some of the Jewish participants and observers was not the nature of the WWII-era war crimes themselves, but rather, the epiphanal revelation that they too, under different circumstances, might have been just as capable of perpetrating genocide.

I, too, want to believe that humans are inherently "good," and that the Bible is way off when it says that the heart of man is exceedingly wicked. My gut tells me, though, that there may be more truth to that maxim than I, or any of us for that matter, would care to admit.

It's easy to believe that we're on some kind of downward slope towards the breakdown of civilized societies, but every generation thinks that, and has thought it since the dawn of time. The bottom line is that the majority of people are selfish, self-absorbed, self-interested pricks who couldn't care less about the people around them. Same as it's always been. If you imagine some kind of idyllic world where people actually care about each other and do more to build than destory then you're always going to be disappointed by the reality. People suck. They always have and they always will.

If we would have had a slower evolution we may have had a chance. We could have turned out more like the bonobos. Our quick evolution from forest dwellers to hunter-gatherer to agricultural to industrial and now to information-consumer has caused us to evolve far to quickly on the scientific end and very slowly on the sociall end. We worry more about production and wealth than we do about humanity. We are individualist territorial beasts caring little about our neighbors or our world due to the fact that we feel our own individual worth outweighs the health and stability of the whole. We have become a virus, raping and pillaging the earth with little thought of future generations, fighting amongst ourselves over fables which give us some divine providence over the fruits of the earth. No other species commits such attrocities on it's own or on the earth.

Untill the day that we forget about this false economy, this money which we created as a means to seperate into sects of rich and poor, we will forever be bound to physical progress instead of philosophical progress.

We are inherantly greedy wanting creatures and we need need need.

It's just nature, nothing to be that ashamed of really.

Even if we do go on a super destructive rampage though, I bet there will still be groups of humans left on the planet. We are uber survivors. Maybe we will just to start over one of these days in a different type of world with different ancestors and genetics and do things differently next time.

Dont worry so much about it though, because it is a runaway train and things will happen as they do in nature, not as dictated by intelligence.

Cockroaches and viri are uber survivors. Our exsistence is a blip on the timeline of earth comparatively. If we do not "worry about" it we will never move beyond it. Evolution has as much to do with nurture as it does with nature.

If we have to depend on the intelligence of the species we're definitely doomed. That grilled cheese sandwich with the supposed image of the virgin mary on it just sold for $28,000

Very fitting quote Siobhan! I'll save this, to place somewhere close by, as a reminder to make sure my actions follow closely with my beliefs and perhaps to set an example, even if scorned, by my behavior.

It's the end of the world as we know it and Wiggle feels fine.

We are supposedly an intelligent species. Ever since we started making stone axes and building mud huts we have attempted to shape our environment to suit us better. We now have the ability to affect that environment on a global scale, not to mention weapons which could wipe out our entire species if we got excited enough to deploy them. If we don't start using our so called intelligence to figure out how to live in harmony with each other and the ecosystem we depend upon rather than how to kill and exploit we may find that there is nothing left to exploit and no one left to kill.

Whoa, seem to have come full circle there, hmmm, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

It's the end of the world as we know it and I've got front row seats.

If you don't strive to do better and improve, than you will stay the same. I say we should all worry very much about it, and at the very least, try to live good, compassionate, and generous lives. Sure our species will die out eventually, whether thru a natural occurance or our own actions, but I for one, would love to see us move forward and at least struggle to be good and decent and caring. And our nature can change..through will and fortitude, as well as evolution.

Yes those things are uber survivers, but we have just started and already tamed much of what there is to tame.

What we lack in natural resistance we have developed ways of dealing with using our brains and other abilities.

I dont know that we'll make it very long, but we definately have a lot of ability that may help us.

*gag*.

Why work when you can make designs out of cheese and sell them for thousands, to me, that seems an immediate breakdown of society. Here I am working hard to make a living and survive daily trahma, it just makes me want to puke.

Granted there are many ways to make money now a days, but I mean really..

I do all of these things. I go out of my way to help people and mediate situations and strive to improve all the time, but the fact remains that in the end we are over populating the planet at a very rapid pace and it is not going to subside. People are to driven to breed as a whole to get any kind of intelligent control over the situation. We are greedy and self serving as a whole just like the rest of the animal kingdom.

Dont get me wrong, I want all of this to, but it is truely a losing battle at this point. Like I said maybe after we or something takes a major chunk of the population out we will be able to step back and get a handle on things, but I just really doubt it. There is always some fuckwad that wants to screw people over and kill etc.

I chose not to worry about it though, because that just stresses me out and instead I just go about my life doing what I can to make things better for me and the ones I run into in this life. This way I can continue to be a happy person and effect positive changes in the people I meet instead of becoming angry or cynical in my everyday actions.

Nice David,

Most of us want to believe. Unfortunately there's that little thing called reality. Now this can also be percieved differently by different people. But as mentioned, the media plays a major role on what is passed on to the public as "reality".

Just after the Re-election I noticed an increase in "war" flicks being shown!!! Full Metal Jacket I belive was on for like a week along with numerous others. Numbing us again for whatever casuallties we may take in this "all of a sudden" resurgence in attacking Falusah sp??!

After 9-11 we saw Bruce Willis "Tears of the Sun", Mel Gibson "We Were Soldiers", and Nich Cage "Wind Talkers" drop in rapid succesion. The later seemed to heighten and feul american "patriotism".

The direct contridiction in what you want to believe in, and what the reality is, is a result of those in power that don't believe in the same things as some of us.



These are what your people in power are concerned with. Bush Sr. had no problem telling the world in his Presidential addresses that "We", "Will do whatever it takes to bring about a "New World Order!"" Armed with this "mission statement" and tools at there disposal, such as the "Executive Power", FEMA, CIA, DEA and others, these powers that be seem to be waiting and grooming us for the day we say, "All I believe in is going to shit!!! There's no hope. We are killing ourselves and really have no idea why. PLEEEEEEASE.... COME IN AND HELP US REGULATE OURSELVES!!!!". Once all appears futile we will "need" this "help" from our government because we've become a society so numb to the attrocities and are "hypnotysed" to belive more in money, and place our priorities on whether two men want to be married to each other (which I fail to see why this is even of interest to anyone besides the two getting married, ie: Nonnya bidness) instead of, let's say, unemployment (which at this time is making it difficult to attain this almighty dollar so I can pay rent and eat and attempt to survive) or the fact that we have our children being murdered in a another country "waiting" for a re-election.

Stay strong to your beliefs and convictions David!!!!!

It's times like these my friend when we must come together and support each other from the common good of all mankind. This atmosphere breeds Revolution.

So you do all these things but according to your argument humans on the whole are incapable of similar civility? Are you further evolved than the average hairless ape? If you say that our desire to breed is inherant to the species then isn't our desire to control the population via killing a natural instinct as well? So we should abandon all morals, laws and ethics and succumb to this natural predisposition of which you speak? So many questions so few braincells.

Thanks for resorting to trying to degrade me.

All I'm saying is that I do what I can in what I think is good and right and you try to say that I put myself above others and think we should just start killing each other.

Can you argue the out of control population growth?

Do you deny getting food for yourself before helping others?

Yes, our population is out of control and we are self serving.

Maybe you should start trying to argue the point instead of trying to attack me personally.

Good point. People (some of them) have been behaving like brutes, monsters and idiots since the beginging of history. The notion that there once was a time (or a civilization) where everyone was enlightened, kind, envirementaly responsible, "in tune with nature" etc.. is somewhat of a myth



Part of the problem may be hardwired in human nature. I seem to recall reading that at one time human beings coexisted with other high functioning primates (like neanderthals), but the humans killed them all. Even most of the original human inhabitants of the world were killed off by the ancestors of todays living humans. Perhaps the agressive temperment that let us survive and conquer lives on in modern cruelty and brutality.


Just my twisted two cents

Gee, I thought we were having a thread about how nice it would be if humanity collectively tried to make the world a better place rather than constantly fighting amongst ourselves. I don't see how this sort of personal attack contributes constructively to the conversation.

Then again, perhaps it serves to illustrate the point.

Let's maybe think of it in terms as evolution of a spieces on a whole. Have we evolved "outwrdly" or "inwardly"?

How is it that ancient civilizations seemed to have an advanced technology and understanding of things such as, the "human spirit", the journey between "realms, realities, worlds" (whatever you wanna call em)? Thier respect for thier environment, trees, plants, animals?

Somewhere we strayed from the path of self rightousness and turned our efforts, as a speices, "outwardly". We will destroy our planet, animals, and even our own in quest of money and material things.

Why is it we can't even recreate the Great Pyramid, been round for awhile, but we "supposedly" can walk on the moon?

Should we be more concerned with internal merits of the individual, or his social status based on "what" he has, not "who" he is?!!!!