It somehow seems strange to me that in a world of expanding possibilities, more and more the citizens of the world isolate themselves.  Think about it.  We have become fearful of others, fearful of those who are different and as a society we are now afraid of ourselves.

In the fifties and sixties we were full of hope and promise.  We were looking for medical breakthroughs, we sent young people to the third world to lift people up out of poverty.  We were exploring the heavens and planning to send a man to the moon.

We viewed the world as a place of possibility.  Today that is gone.  It is like someone defaced the mask of hope and promise.  Instead of praising new ideas and concepts we collectively find fault instead of adding to the toolbox of progress.

As a society and a world collective we have done some amazing things in the field of math and science.  We have advanced the world of knowledge and put that knowledge into more  hands than ever before.  In a span of a mere twenty years we have revolutionize how the modern world works.  That being said why are we such a discontented lot?

There are a number of reasons some with merit and some without merit.  The information has increased transparency and scrutiny, on a universal scale.  We have also witnessed the failings of our leaders.  Failings that have always been with us and prior to the information age, they were failings out of site and out of mind.  The trouble is we begin to hold others to a higher standard without applying the benchmark to ourselves.

In our enthusiasm of the fifties and sixties, we began to believe in the concept of instant solutions. We remember the past as we recall it not necessarily as an accurate picture of what was.  We have all heard of the good ole days.  It was a simpler time and people were happy and everything was wonderful.

Let us explore reality.  We didn’t have the tools we have today jobs took longer and were labor intensive.  We didn’t have the conveniences.  We didn’t social programs like medicare.  The transportation systems and choices didn’t allow us as much freedom of movement.  To top it off our life expectancy was about fifteen years shorter.   If everyone was contented then, we would not have had a need for progress and new things.

We have done all this and we feel more isolated than before. Our problems lie in our inability to adjust to change.  We don’t trust our leaders and we are afraid of he future and each other.

Have you ever noticed children don’t hang back in fear and they don’t succumb to vises like hate?   Perhaps we should all take a step back and look at the world through a child’s eyes.  They see a world of hope  and promise, that we created and are now bent on denying is here.

The only thing the adult world collectively needs to do is go back and rediscover the positive feeling our grandparents had that together we could craft a better world.

Fred Steele