Saturday 23 May 2009

Things aren't like they used to be...

“Kids today – they’re getting worse and worse…It’s such a dangerous world these days…In my day, this would have never happened…” I’m not ever going to deny that there are big issues in this world. Big, bad, ugly issues.

But if we only view a Hammer House of Horror version of the world (at the expense of the Disney classic, perhaps), it’s no surprise that we end up skimming over the better bits of our time here. As far as I’m aware, in Western countries you don’t get a hand chopped off for stealing apples anymore. Nor is it the norm to send kids down chimneys or ban people of a certain race, creed or gender from having access to certain types of public facilities. Yes, yes, yes, social equality and justice is yet to be accepted as a God-given right in many parts of the less enlightened globe. But at least there are people willing and able to stand up for the rights of people they’ll never even meet. And change still is gonna come...

Sure, there are tensions in this world but Northern Ireland has come along leaps and bounds, South Africa continues on its long road of reconciliation, the Communist block has collapsed and welcomed personal freedoms and the US answered “yes, we can”. Don’t get me wrong, there are many, many issues that we need to address and ones that are getting worse. Pollution, the destruction of our planet, the globalisation of terrorism, to name but a few. But there are many bright spots to think about along with the shades of grey. You can but hope.

2 comments:

  1. I look at the world with a lot of optimism now. You are so right, it does have it's problems, but it always will. I think that many people go into overreaction mode when it comes to the negatives, that they can't see the positives. I see the positives every single day by living in the country by the mountains.

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  2. Very true - and appreciating what's all around you is as good a start as any.

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