Wash Your Hands
All of we who make up me
I was recently at the library. I happened across a book in which the fundamental idea was the fact that after over one-hundred years of modern therapy, the world is getting worse. This was an interesting idea, but I didn’t have the chance to read into it further. The author was more than likely defining “getting worse” in terms of mental health. In some ways they’re right. Depression rates are on the rise, and are projected to become many times higher in the coming decade. Some even believe it’s contagious.
So we’re a sad bunch, that much is true. What’s making us sad? Enter the perceived status quo of the world today. Sadness is situational, reflected from the way we see the world. We see wars, famine, poverty, crimes, and we hear lies from our authority figures. Can we fix this situation?
I say probably. Definitely is too strong of a word, but we’re certainly not doomed. I don’t see America falling as hard as the Roman Empire in any of our lifetimes. However, some things must change. Believing in change can only do so much; we need to be able to see it, to touch it, to grasp it. We need facts and figures to show we’re headed in the right direction, not just idealistic rhetoric.
Socially, for example, things might not be getting as bad as many are led to believe. Now more than ever there is greater creativity in arts, movies, music, television, and other areas. With a country that’s becoming more and more liberal-leaning, artists and other creative folks are able to express themselves more elaborately and take more risks without having to worry about a vast majority of people looking at what they create as a social taboo. More and more, protections are being put in place to lessen the harm of things such as prejudice. A few decades ago, hate crimes didn’t exist. Minorities such as African Americans and homosexuals are allowed more opportunities for work because of laws prohibiting workplace discrimination. Women are also gaining good ground in workplace equality, holding positions that are classically seen as male positions.
Economically, things aren’t going so well. We all know that. However, dips have happened in the past, and we’ve always bounced back. With the advent of new “green” jobs, we’ve been able to create thousands of new jobs for the working class, and our economic assets are slowly recovering. We’ve still got a dependance on foreign oil, but technology is accelerating faster than ever, and plausible alternative shouldn’t be too far off in the future. Our oil dependance fuels many of our wars, so with an alternative, we’ll lose many a reason to engage in combat with other nations. We just need to think smarter, and innovate.
America is a very resilient country. There are stressors working against us, but we’ve always found ways in the past of dispelling our fears and working towards goals that will improve our quality of life. We can choose to head in the right direction. We can choose to imagine, and turn our imaginations into solutions. My outlook on America; we’re not going anywhere soon, and I do not believe we’re heading towards rock bottom. Since we’ll be enjoying our stay amongst the nations of the world, we’ve got just enough time to make amends. So turn that frown upside-down, or use your melancholia to inspire you.
