Hopeless or Helpless?

Maybe it's hopeless. Maybe the trajectory the human race is on is an unstoppable evolution that no one can stop. Maybe it's just too late for that.

But, too late for what?

To me that's the question that isn't being answered. It seems everyone knows the world is going to shit, this country is going to shit (or has), and yet no one seems to have an answer on how to reverse course or even stop the bleeding.

Maybe we as humans just are not capable. It's not like we're all powerful creatures that are infallible. We make mistakes, we have our limitations. Maybe collectively we are just incapable of creating a just and equal system of living together on this planet. Maybe this is simply the "best we got".

Here's what I think. I think it's a failure of identifying the primary problem and the primary goal. We've got problems up the kazoo. Wealth inequality, climate change, war and imperialism, fascism, the list goes on and on. Hell, there aren't enough whales right? Save the Whales!

Joe wants this and Suzie wants this and Mark wants this and Alma wants this. Pedro thinks we should do that and Ahmed thinks we should do this and Bernhard thinks we should do that and Dikembe thinks we should do that. What is it that we can all agree on? Is there a common denominator with all these problems? Can we solve them all by solving one? Or are we forever shackled with too many problems and too little imagination?

Is is hopeless?

If you're a Christian or most other religions, you have to think it's hopeless. Christians believe in Armageddon and the Rapture so they can't believe we simple humans can create an everlasting system of peace, justice and equality. Most other religions have their own versions of depending on an all powerful God to save us from ourselves. That's hopeless, and hope I guess. The hope being placed on something that can't be seen, heard or verified. But clearly a hopeless attitude for humans to find a way out of this mess themselves.

Many have philosophized over the centuries about how to operate and organize human societies and different formats of government. Some have been and are disasters but some have been fairly successful. But greed and lust for power always overcome the efforts at truth, justice, and equality.

I'll settle for freedom and equality. Maybe we can't solve all our problems but if we can achieve freedom and equality, that might be enough to keep this thing going. We have to have planning, organization and systems for how to govern and live. What I don't want is a small minority dictating and/or forcing everyone else to live a certain way or to impact the lives of everyone else without their consent. That to me is the biggest problem. We humans always seem to allow others to achieve power over everyone else and dictate their lives without their true consent. From the Kings and Queens and Monarchs of centuries past, to dictators and Presidents of modern times, how humans are able to live on this planet, or whether they're allowed to live at all, has been largely in the hands of those few who gain that power.

That's where we're at now. A few have the power to impact the lives of everyone else and those few have no intention of allowing equality and justice. They will murder a million people at a time without second thoughts, they will destroy countries and many million more lives in their quest for power and to satisfy their greed.

That is not freedom. That is not equality. That is the problem.  

But that's my opinion, what's yours?

Ya,  maybe it's not hopeless.  Maybe we're just helpless.