I Am Discouraged With The World

I am discouraged with the world. Go to the grocery store and people will cut in front of you, desperately grabbing what they need, not simply saying, “Excuse me.” It seems as if we have lost common courtesies. If you hold the door open for a woman, you are sexist. If you drive the speed limit, people are angry at you and their rage comes out. You can walk down the hallway, offer a greeting to a co-worker and not receive one in return. It’s not that they don’t like you, but that they are either distracted or have forgotten the simplest of things, which is a kind greeting. “Thank you!” and “How are you?” are not common in our language as much as they once were. We have lost something the past several years.

I am discouraged with the world. I can be in a meeting and everyone is on their device, not giving eye contact or truly engaging in genuine conversation. So many opportunities to connect go missed. I see couples out to eat, they sit across from one another, cell phones in hand. They don’t talk, don’t look at one another, but stare at a screen. Have we forgotten what a relationship should be like? We need to do what Thich Nhat Hahn often writes about, and listen with compassion. 

I am discouraged with the world. We seem to think people are simply replaceable, throwing them away without a second thought. Take one look at many organizations, including schools, and you will see this put into practice daily. I believe we need to learn and practice servant leadership, but first we need to remove leaders that are self-serving. 

I am discouraged with the world. There is so much anger. If you spend any time on social media, it is displayed freely, without consequence. There are people being hateful towards one another, people that do not even know each other. They say things behind the protection of a screen. Things that would get these keyboard warriors punched in the face back in the day. Yet, they think it is okay. Much of it is cruel rhetoric, selfish, and trashy. 

I am discouraged with the world. We struggle to celebrate someone else’s accomplishments. 

I am discouraged with the world. We are having mental health programs cut from schools, and our kids will suffer. Anxiety, depression, and suicide are all on the rise, and these cuts will harm children. The schools will be taxed with the extra burden, one more thing to pile on teachers, and it will never be good enough. Teachers are the scapegoats for all things wrong in the world. 

I am discouraged with the world. It seems as if we are all so divided and it does not come down to only policies, but hate. It comes down to fear and picking sides. We allowed one man to divide us by spreading false statements of hatred. Your schools are not turning your kids transgender and there are not kitty litter boxes being supplied for students that identify as cats. I am baffled how so many in our society believed such rhetoric. Immigrants are not eating your pets. Remember that one? It’s discouraging to see so much hate in a world that has been intentionally choreographed to divide us. Keep the populace divided and scrambling and they can be controlled. 

I am discouraged with the world. I am discouraged that we elected a president that once made fun of a person with disabilities and that alone was not the deciding factor to keep him out of the most powerful office in the world. Our moral standards have sunken. They sink even lower when we have Christians that actually believe our president follows Christ, and many think he is the second coming. He is the furthest away from what Jesus stood for. Go back and read the New Testament and you will see. 

I am discouraged with the world. Racism is on display. People don’t even try to hide it anymore, and maybe that is good. It’s best to know who they are. We are seeing people’s true nature though, and that has ruined many relationships. We are seeing the rise of far right neo-Nazi groups. It is being condoned as if they are patriots of this great land of ours. Being condoned by people that are not neo-Nazi extremists themselves, but they somehow relate since those extremists love our president. That hurts my heart and makes me want to tear down the system that has built them up. 

I am discouraged with the world. I wish that people could see the harm this current administration is doing to the country. They are cruel, bigots, racists, obnoxious, and their rhetoric has caused fear and division. Our president does not have the values that we need in our leaders, and this is not a partisan opinion. I have always been open to voting for a republican candidate if I thought they were worthy of office. My opposition towards our president, and the people he has appointed to his administration, is completely a moral one. When someone has decided to end programs that harm people, putting wealth in the pockets of the few, there is an issue. When he is okay with taking food away from starving people in other countries, dismantling programs that protected those people, I do not approve. When he pardoned criminals who stormed our nation's capital and hurt police officers, I did not approve. When he deports immigrants that do not have a criminal record, tearing their families apart, I do not approve. When he laughs, standing in a detention center where over 70% of the people confined there do not have a criminal background, I do not approve. When he attempts to end birthright citizenship, I do not agree. When our president targets universities, trying to silence them because they challenge his racist, hateful beliefs, I do not approve. When he fires generals, judges, and attorneys for retribution, I do not agree. When he dismisses federal workers, I do not agree. When he rollbacks healthcare regulations, I do not agree. When he takes away affordable drug and insulin prices, I do not agree. When he removes the United States from WHO (World Health Organization), I do not agree. When he cuts Pell Grants and student loan programs, I do not agree. I do not agree with his attacks against the Department of Education. I disagree with him eliminating environmental protections and selling off public land. He’s a fool for pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords. He’s a fool for cutting clean energy and sustainability programs. I disagree with him cutting grants to small businesses, including black and women owned businesses. He is bad for our country and bad for our status in the world. Isolationism does not work. And, with all of this and more, it took the Epstein Files and so-called “list,” to get his base upset at him. That is one of the reasons I am discouraged with the world. 

I am discouraged with the world. So many on the left like to make fun of our president for his weight, hair, looks, and how he talks. Why do you lower yourself to how he acts? Why do you conduct yourselves in such a way? This is not intelligent and does not state your case against him. Making fun of someone for things they cannot control is bullyish. People make fun of someone when they have nothing intelligent to say. The president has caused so much harm to our country, and the world as a whole, that you must be able to find more to talk about than how he looks while golfing. Don’t be hateful. Be human! Exercise your right to free speech, but do so while articulating your opinion on his actions, not his looks. Yes, I know that term “Free speech” just triggered you because the president and his administration are doing their best to dismantle it, so take your emotions and articulate them well. 

I am discouraged with the world. When we see an increase in floods, fires, hurricanes, drought, and so on, we have climate problems. Even if you believe climate change is a hoax, does it hurt to take care of our planet? Isn’t it better to breathe clean air? Isn’t it better to preserve our natural environments for everyone to enjoy? Isn’t it better to have clear, clean water to drink and wash ourselves in? Isn’t it better to preserve our planet for generations to come instead of destroying it now? Even if you don’t believe in climate change, I hope we all agree that keeping our planet healthy should be a priority for those who follow us. That is an unselfish act that we should all want. 

I am discouraged with the world. Wars are escalating that we were promised would be stopped. Genocide is currently happening in Gaza. There is no getting around that. It is not antisemitic to state that it is unjust for innocent women and children to be slaughtered and starved in Gaza. To be against this is to be human, not antisemitic. One would think, more than most, that the Jewish people would understand this. In their history, they were massacred by a madman. Don’t let other madmen massacre a population of people. We have had at least two presidents now that could have stopped the killing and starvation in Gaza, but they chose not too. With the power that the United States possesses, we could stop this massacre. We have chosen not to. It is a choice to allow harm. Yes, I know it’s complicated. It’s more complicated than most of us will ever know. Still, that doesn’t mean that you cannot unclench your jaw, let go of your anger and hate, and want to stop the massacre of people. 

I am discouraged with the world. It’s as if we forgot that people dying in Gaza, Ukraine, and immigrants being torn from their families are human. It’s as if we have forgotten that people in need will lose their healthcare benefits because of greed. What have we become? Is it “woke” to not want people harmed in any way? If so, then I say, “Wake the fuck up!” If woke means to care for everyone, then be that. 

I am discouraged with the world. It seems as if gaslighting has become a common practice to silence people. 

I am discouraged with the world. Greed has smothered us. We seem to care more about the wealthy than we do anyone else. Even the poor have been convinced that it is okay to take food out of their own mouths to give more to billionaires, as long as we don’t have pronouns anymore. We do not have an America without the middle class and poor. That is who built this country, and they are essential in keeping the country going. Is it woke to want everyone to feel safe, have their basic needs met, and live with dignity? If so, then be that. 

I am discouraged with the world. Hate surrounds us. I am discouraged, but I also believe that love surrounds us. We need to be whole, come together as one, not a disjointed group. I believe there will come a time when the human race will understand they need one another to simply survive. That time is coming. We must implode first. We must fall apart before we realize we were better together. I think people will eventually become exhausted by the hate and division. They will look back and see that we let ourselves drift further away from being what makes us human, which is being empathetic and compassionate. Yes, there will always be hateful groups of people. There always has and it would be ignorant to think hate will go away. However, once people realize that hate has been condoned and made popular, and it almost destroyed us, we will come back to love. 

I am discouraged with the world, but I also have hope. I have hope that we will eventually realize that as long as people are not harming anyone else, we should allow them to live the lives they desire. We will realize that we are only as good as the person who suffers most, and with that, we must take care of them and everyone who occupies this great nation and planet. 

I am discouraged with the world. It seems as if kindness and empathy are under attack. There’s a new, dangerous dialogue that has been adopted by many, that being kind to one another is a sign of weakness. There are four virtues the stoics say we need for living a good, fulfilling life: wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. They are a guide for life and being resilient. I would add that empathy, compassion, and kindness should also be a guide for a good life. Without them, we rapidly self-destruct. People who practice hate also self-destruct, and we are seeing this happen now. Hate does not last, but love does. 

I am discouraged with the world. It is true. I think I will go to the woods now and find a tree to sit under and breathe in the clean air that surrounds it. I will sit with my thoughts, my compassion for humanity, and simply be. If you read this far, leave a comment on what you have hope for in this world. Love surrounds us all, we just need to look closely, listen with compassion, become more self-aware, and put down our cell phone and ego. If something here has upset you, ask yourself why. Be reflective in your life and sit in silence with yourself, asking the question, “How can I improve as a human?” You can only take the steps to change yourself before attempting to change others.  Peace!