My Concerns For The Year Ahead

Some thoughts as we reach the end of this year and prepare to start a new one.

It worries me that people have become so desensitised to the ongoings in the world. “Yes, we can’t afford our food.” “Yes, we are close to homelessness. “We don’t know if any of our children will be able to own a home in their lifetime.” “It is possible either or both of us will lose our jobs within a year, and we don’t know how to support our children if that happens.” “Yes, people are dying as victims of war, hate and bigotry daily.” “Indeed, we are in the 21st century’s Great Depression.” “Depression? Anxiety? Stress? We have all of those and are hanging by a thread.”

And yet, after we have realised numbly that this is happening, people are still spending and borrowing money far past their income during the holidays. Afterwards, they turn to social media or streaming to effectively make sure they can no longer fit any more feelings or thoughts into their minds. While simultaneously numbing themselves further with sugar, nicotine, caffeine and alcohol, all in “the spirit of Christmas.” All they’ll see and hear will be the distractions in place to keep them numb and easily controlled.

We know there’s a problem, and still, most of us won’t acknowledge that there is one. Or multiple, rather. Because by acknowledging we are facing tremendous problems in the world, we would also have to come to terms with the fact that we need to change. People are so very attached to their cushy lives, conveniences and being able to eat or buy their every feeling away that they cannot bear to think of losing even one of those indulgences. Also, by acknowledging the problems and the need for change, people would need to face their own involvement. They would need to recognise how they contributed and are still contributing to the problem and that their current way of life cannot continue, at least not in the same manner or to the same extent.

It seems people would rather be numb, brainwashed and living in a dying world, eating poisoned food and watching censored content than have to change their ways. We often speak of our comfort zones and how we must venture beyond them to grow as human beings. In that sense, most countries and people are lying swaddled under a mountain of security blankets, refusing to budge even an inch.

It worries me that the injustices, the pain and the suffering in the world, along with the hatred and bigotry, continue to increase, and I do not know to what end. Will there be a third world war? Will the planet falter from our abuse and wither and die? Or will humans simply succumb to the hatred and kill each other?

All I know is that we cannot continue like this. If we do, we will have little to look forward to.

How do you feel about all of this?