There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong. […] The great problem facing modern man is that, that the means by which we live have outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live. So we find ourselves caught in a messed-up world. The problem is with man himself and man’s soul. We haven’t learned how to be just and honest and kind and true and loving. And that is the basis of our problem. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
These words are some sixty years old. And they are valid though, and I believe that they have been valid from the moment we created what we call “civilization.”
I believe it’s a general feeling of uneasiness that the world is going to fall apart, that all our children will have left are some ruins.
Civilization is such a fragile thing. Societies are built on ideologies, on the combined effort a millions and millions of people, and they try to imagine into reality a future so great that we can brag about creating Heaven on Earth.
How do we learn to be just and honest and kind and true and loving? Do we have to be that all the time, to all people, under all circumstances?
Aren’t we just an advanced breed of monkeys who are terrified of death and do all that we can so we can forget about our own frailty and irrelevance?
Yet we hope. And we follow great men who want to make the world a better place, who want equality and freedom for us all. That is no vain pursuit.
But the world isn’t broken. There’s nothing wrong, even with the most terrifying aspects of humanity. The kind of darkness that we rarely speak about. It’s part of who we are, and trying to suppress it will do more harm than good.
We are just and honest and kind and true and loving because we can easily be the exact opposite. We can choose to be loving or we can choose to be fueled by hatred.
There’s both light and darkness inside our souls, and it is important to accept this.
This world is broken. It always was. And it will always be so. For man was meant to overcome tremendous obstacles and survive in the most difficult to circumstances. The injustice of the world makes it possible for great visionaries to be born.
Without tragedy, there would be no art.
Without pain and anger and heartbreak, we’d never know the pleasure of listening to the wisdom of great men.
Without oppression, we’d never appreciate freedom, and we’d never fight for the right to be free.
The fight is all there is. In this life, and all previous lives. The fight between the world as it is and the world as it could be.
There’s a bit of magic left in the world. You can see it in the eyes of a person whom the world has tried to break, over and over again, and yet they still speak of love and compassion and forgiveness.
It is probably well to remember that one can only be good when it would be far easier to be evil. When the world angers you, makes you feel your own heart boiling to the point of spilling out of your chest, and you decide to be kind anyway. And smile. And offer the gift of love to those who hardly deserve it.
So impressed by your “never give up” spirit and determination to write, instruct, write, instruct. I have no doubt that a united front of global citizenry seeking a more humanistic way of life for all of us will pierce the darkness that currently besets us.
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This: “It is probably well to remember that one can only be good when it would be far easier to be evil. When the world angers you, makes you feel your own heart boiling to the point of spilling out of your chest, and you decide to be kind anyway. And smile. And offer the gift of love to those who hardly deserve it.” That is the basis for my Christian faith. I am no longer afforded the opportunity to get angry or resentful about people, places and things. Either I believe someone who didn’t deserve to die did so for the least of those, or I don’t. I fail every day, but knowing that I’m not losing to choose kindness, but I’m acting beyond just my knee jerk”I’ll get you back” mentality makes it better. Thank you for your blog.
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Really beautiful and truthful post! There is so much to be said but one thing I know for sure that choosing the light makes you feel better both for the mind, body and spiritual growth, it does not matter that they do not deserve it, You definitely deserve it!
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Amen to that, brother. The state of the world is the reason why we needed a Saviour in the first place.
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Highly impressive and impactful post
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Well said Cristian. Great Post!! Zulu Delta
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Heal the world to make it a better place
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That last paragraph is something I’ve been trying to work on for the last month. It’s quite a challenging task but by being intentional, it’s not impossible. Thanks for the reminder!
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True, but the world is broken now in a way it never has been before. One species is causing a mass extinction event right now and it’s likely to get much worse. That species is ours and the reason why it will get much worse is climate change which will become too fast for most species to respond. That is a scale of brokenness that has not happened for millions of years and not then from one species.
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Well, the world is as it is. Or, more exactly, as we drove it to be.
We ourselves, by learning good from bad, have the ‘opportunity’ to do bad things. Which we not always pass…
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