Human Arrogance

What's it all about, eh?

I often find myself wondering how the world has ended up in such a mess. The wars, the pollution, the new and cunningly horrific diseases we now find ourselves awash with, often as a result of our own arrogant belief that we can flaunt the laws of nature and escape unscathed.

I suppose it is natural enough for the human spirit to wish to build and develop and dominate and in general this is possibly a good thing but it seems to exist without the benefit of a positive feedback loop, without which I fear we will soon be shooting ourselves in the foot.

I marvel at the fact that we potentially have the technology to mould and shape another planet (admittedly over several hundred years) into one which can support human life. I can't help but feel that we perhaps ought to spend a bit more time and effort on clearing up and sorting out the planet we live on now. How can such an amazing, intelligent species such as ourselves be so resourceful on one level and so utterly pigheadedly ignorant on another? Answers on a postcard, please.

However, amongst the technological advances and remarkable achievements lies the sad fact that we seem to be missing a large and what I consider to be rather obvious point. We don't have unlimited space and resources with which to spread ourselves all over the planet, yet the population increases at an alarming rate and already there are more than enough conflicts between humans and the animal kingdom for space. Inevitably, the animals usually lose out, unless enough dedicated people make enough of a fuss for some compromise to be elicited and their future secured.

Many people would take the view that you cannot control human population growth because it would necessitate interfering with human rights. Human rights to do what exactly - breed us all out of existence? Already we are faced with the very real possibility that there will be a significant global water shortage in the next 20 years, while half the world has mountains of produce and the other half starves. The rich are becoming richer and more secular; the poor are becoming poorer and more desperate; more people resort to crime and so the well-heeled spend more money on ostracising themselves behind the security walls of little communities to protect themselves and their material gains from attack.

Our modern society has given us many things, among them an absolute expectation to enjoy the comfortable and materialistically plentiful lifestyle, and the training courses and job opportunities to fund it. It's everywhere you look. Whilst I do fundamentally believe that everyone has the right and, if they are determined enough the wherewithal, to get out there and find a job no matter the circumstances they were raised in, many people do expect it on a plate and are not prepared to put the required effort in. While there are always those irritating people who do seem to have it all handed to them on a plate, are they really any better off?

I just wish that folks would look at the wider picture, the one that extends beyond their two cars, their two kids and their three-bed semi in a respectable area of the 'burbs. It's easy enough to see why complacency is so prevalent but why not stop for a moment, pause to consider the issues you care about and whether it might not be such a bad thing to get out there and support the things you believe in. I've been caught up in this complacency thing myself. For some reason I find myself waking up, smelling the coffee and resolving to be a bit more proactive in supporting issues close to my heart.

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