When you are considered by some to be a cynically optimistic curmudgeon, my last post really isn't all that bad. At least it's not out of character. Which came first, the character or the cynicism will have to remain a chicken-and-egg question. I don't think it much matters.
I know, I know, there are lots of you out there who still have hope for the world, and I can assure you that I'm glad you're there. I doubt you're going to have much effect, bar some unforeseen world-altering event, but as the Germans like to say, hope dies last. What nevertheless amazes me most, I think, is the degree of denial that we humans are capable of.
Think about it for a moment: When you have to pump almost $30 trillion into an economic system just to keep it afloat, just how robust can it be? When you have almost 10 million people dying of starvation alone every year, how effective can business be? When three people own more than 48 countries combined, how fair is that? When it is obvious that we've got huge environmental problems but we insist on business as usual, how smart is that? When we give up freedom after freedom in the name of false security, how do we explain that to our children? When everybody is wrong, how can anyone be right? Yes, these are big-ticket issues and for every one of them there are literally millions of people who deny that any one of them, let alone all of them, is true. And I'm supposed to have hope in a brighter future?
Sorry, no can do. Sorry, my sleep-walking friends, but it's time to wake up. The first step, says Lao Tzu, is the hardest, but it's one everybody can take: drop your opinions. Stop talking, start listening. How hard can that be?
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