Frankly, people in general are fucking wild these days (wilder than usual), and have been that way for the last couple years or so. I can’t say why that is, aside from blame things such as “the pandemic”, “lack of proper law enforcement”, and “lack of mental health help”. It seems like every possible reason why people have been losing their shit so much in the last couple years, is impossible to deal with given the resources we currently have.
Actually, we do have the resources to fix the majority of the problems we see today. We have money, we have skills, we have extremely advanced technology, we have millions of acres of crops and pasture and open space for green energy in America alone. But we, as humans, are too greedy and selfish to use those resources to help the sick and poor.
It's a well-known fact that it would take roughly $40 billion bucks per year to solve world hunger. It's also a well-known fact that Americans alone gamble away $43 billion bucks per year at casinos and horse races. I'm sure if you pull aside your average gambling American and remind them of this fact, they'd agree that gambling is much less important than food and shelter for the needy. But, within an hour or a day of having that conversation with you, the gambler will be right back to doing what they do best: throwing money at a slot machine for hours on end.
This idea, of course, extends well beyond gambling. And each and every one of us is guilty of it.
I admire those who still believe that things can be changed for the better. That humanity is mostly good and will unite to make the world a better place. That most people who exist today are good, honest, loving people. But, I don’t believe such things, as badly as I want to.
Maybe I’m wrong for that. In fact, I hope that I’m wrong. But until I see and experience evidence that contradicts my belief that humans inherently suck, I will continue to believe it.
So, for the time being, I plan on laying low as usual. I plan on keeping my head down and just doing what I’ve been doing. Right now, as a young college student who’s yet to break most of my old CF habits despite being on Trikafta for almost three years, I can’t do a damn thing about the surging violence in the world. I can’t participate in politics beyond voting once every two years and the occasional dive into the news. I can’t spend my days thinking about how and why everything is so fucked up still, despite the fact that I live in the richest, most powerful, prosperous, and modern nation the world has ever seen.
All I can do is continue living as I’ve been living. Taking things day-by-day and as they come. Doing what I can to listen, learn, and grow, so that I can become the best version of myself that I can be. Working toward personal goals, learning how to let myself dream and set longer-term, more ambitious goals. Hoping and praying that things turn out okay, but always being prepared for the very worst to happen each day.
Some like to tell me that my attitude and way of living is… well… no way to live. But, I’ve been living like this my entire life, and so far, I’m still living. Until I build up the strength and the security to start figuring out how to save the world, I’m just gonna keep on living like the pessimistic bobcat that I currently am. After all, I can’t do much of anything to save or change society or the world, as much as I wish I could.
All I can do is control how I react to the world around me, how I treat other people around me, how I treat the nature and animals around me. Truth is, that’s all anyone can do.
The only person you can control is yourself. The only environment you can change for the better is the environment you’re currently in. You can’t control what other people do. You can’t even control what happens in the environment you live in, let alone what goes on in the next closest city, state, country, etc. I can't control what ends up in my yard, especially because I live right across the street from a popular park. I can only control how I deal with the shit that ends up in my yard (or, what my dogs bring into the house from the yard). Same goes for how I react to what goes on in my neighborhood, or in the neighborhoods adjacent to mine, or at the store down the road, or at my brother's school, the list goes on. I hope I'm making sense (forgive me if I'm not, because it's getting close to 1 AM).
I know that the world is in desperate need of change. I know, damn well, that something must be done to curb the violence and pain and suffering that happens each and every day, and seems to only be getting worse. But, what can be realistically done on a societal/cultural level, if anything? Honestly, I haven’t a damn fucking clue.
All that I know is that it's more-or-less an "everyone for themselves" world out there (even "good" acts are often done out of selfishness), and there's really not a damn thing I can do to change it. I can only control how I personally react to the insanity of the world, while also attempting to make my little bit of the world just a little safer.
Personally, I make my little world a little safer by switching into 4X4 mode in the snow, locking my doors at night, going to both individual and family therapy, taking my medications, spending time exercising outside, staying home when I don't feel well, wearing an N95 on campus and at the grocery store, going to the grocery store later in the evening or during the middle of the day when fewer people are shopping, designating at least an hour a day to write, restricting how much news and social media I consume each day, eating at least one bowl of salad each day, listening to upbeat music and comedic podcasts during my downtime, the list goes on.
Beyond that, there's nothing I can do at the moment.
It is what it is.
