Have you lost faith in humanity?

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   fiftyishposted 10 years ago

   Have you lost faith in humanity?
   
   Perhaps I watch too much news, or maybe it's because I'm getting older and my eyes are more open to man's inhumanity to man. Then again, perhaps I just can't see the beauty of the forest for ugliness of some of its trees.  I can't know for sure, but what I do know is that nastiness seems like a global epidemic now, and it's hard to find any place on earth where disgruntled humans aren't tearing each other apart either in thoughts or in actions. It's nice to be nice, it's not nice to be nasty, yet watching News hour this evening it seems as though there's still a lot of animal left in mankind!
   
   

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   ChristinSposted 10 years ago

   It's all in what you focus on.  I only watch enough news now to stay informed of what is going on, but I am no longer a "news junkie" like I used to be.  The result, I am a much happier person.  Media influences us more than we like to believe and what we are bombarded with will take hold of our consciousness if we allow it. 
   
   I choose to consciously look for the good in people.  For example, we just went through a blizzard and extreme cold snap. I was very angry that people were being rude, making runs of stores and snapping up everything that wasn't nailed down.  I was in pity mode because I hate winter, snow, darkness, cabin fever etc. Then on Monday, my neighbors who we don't particularly get along that well with, came and plowed out our driveway without being asked.  Just to be good people.  My husband slid off the road on his way to work and several vehicles stopped to help him.  He himself stopped to change a flat tire for someone else. etc. 
   
   When you look for bad in humanity, the bad is all you see.  When you look for the good, your faith in humans starts to be restored.  Also, you have to keep it in perspective. Historically we were much less civilized and cruel as a whole than we are today.  Humanity is relatively young compared to the age of the known universe - growing pains - but growth regardless.

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      fiftyishposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good points ChristinS, thanks for posting your thoughts.

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   Cre8torposted 10 years ago

   Long ago. Only a bit of hope left now. I think we're too far gone to fix the way the world works. I do what I can here and there to contribute but am just a speck. (not that I'll stop doing what I can in my little world) I feel most of us are and regardless of how hard we may try, we will always be overpowered, underfunded and likely unwilling to make the sacrifices required to make significant change. I mean, isn't that why the world has turned out the way it has? Those with a lack of "humanity" have always been willing to do their worst in order to achieve their goals while those who feel the world should be "humane" are typically much more passive and ultimately the victim of the other. Over the course of a couple millennium where else would that trend lead. I'm a bit surprised we've made it this far to be honest but feel that with the world shrinking, population growing and progress being made at an astounding rate and speeding, we are looking at a major global event of some sort in the next generation or 2. I hang onto hope for the sake of my children and theirs. Feeling like I do heavies my heart as a parent.
   
   ...at least animals are honest about what they are and their treacheries are rooted in survival and instinct rather than greed.

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      fiftyishposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great closing paragraph Cre8tor And I agree, it is amazing we've made it this far when you look at how savage the race (as a whole) is becoming as populations grow globally.

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   Seeker7posted 10 years ago

   I have days when I do feel like I have lost all faith in the human race. When I see news clips of the hatred and violence between people, it honestly scares me at times, because I wonder if there is any hope for us as a species.
   
   But then something will happen or I'll hear a story that really lifts my spirits and I feel that, as long as there are at least a handful of good people around, we have a chance of one day becoming a better species, but we have a long way to go and maybe time will run out before we can to a stage where we are truly loving and civilised.

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      fiftyishposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Seeker7. I can relate to your moments of  faith where faith is restored by some kind or compassionate act, yet it would be better if kindness prevailed over nastiness, and I'm not sure that it does.

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   Billie Kelpinposted 10 years ago

   My faith in humanity was restored once again last night when "The Big Bang Theory" won the People's Choice Award.  Seriously!  I truly felt that if the mass of viewers can appreciate such smart, intellectual humor that portrays a myriad of aspects of human behavior, has essentially positive messages about human interaction and a sweetness and inocense to it;  examines the paradox of exponentially rapid scientific discovery while we, at the same time, live in the "real" world -  if a show like that can be appreciated for those reasons by millions of Americans, I have faith in humanity.

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   M. T. Dremerposted 10 years ago

   The news is a terrible thing to watch if you're looking for human decency. Even if they aren't reporting on the stuff that gets ratings, they're still giving you every horrible event that happened around the world. Humans aren't worse; they're the same, we just know about more of it now. Television and the internet has allowed us to worry about murderers on the other side of the globe, even though they will never directly affect our lives. You either have faith in humanity or you don't. It will never do anything differently to gain your favor.

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      fiftyishposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not sure that humans are "the same" M. T. Dremer. Stabbings, muggings, and shootings where once the stuff of national news headlines just 40 years ago, yet nowadays they barely make the inside pages of a local rag!

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      M. T. Dremerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Humanity's past is filled with genocide.

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   meletakeryposted 10 years ago

   I have not lost faith, because I am surrounded by much love and joy with both family and friends.  However, I understand your bewildered state. I am sure that it is due to the breadth of deceit and evil that is continually displayed on the tube-top by publicity media masters. This is created by the Illuminati or importune-13 that expose the vulnerable individuals to media mind control. This is easily accomplished because evil in society has been rising over the years due to increased use of addictive and mind-altering drugs.  Drug abuse plays a major role in crime as well as personal health issues.  Additionally, society has seen a consistent decline in church attendance during the last 50 years resulting in a degradation of morals in the community.  While it is easy to reflect negatively on this, one must remember, that we cannot save everyone.  All we can do as positive moral examples is honor and respect those that deserve our assistance.  This is not presented as the norm by the media and so has become depicted as a weak principled position.  Therefore, the youth of the last 50 years have lost the moral path that would lead them to positive humanity.  The boundaries of evil have expanded during this reduction in moral followers and can only be countered by working to return the individuals to a moral pathway.  This will be difficult because the global leadership positions in many nations is currently held by very evil demagogues.  This has resulted in demonic political agitation as the leader denies any wrong doing while blaming others for all the evil that blasts from the provocateur.
   If you truly seek relief from your faith agony, you must begin to measure humanity by what you can control, not by what media believes you should control.  The media demagogues only desire to continually keep you corralled within the evil realm of the mad provocateur to expand dissension in the society.

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   manatita44posted 10 years ago

   You are not alone, my Brother fiftyish.
   
   So many of us feel this way! Sometimes it all seems dark and gloomy and the Light appears to have gone out of the Heavens. Still, wise ones say that first the vase will look murky before becoming beautiful, and that whenever there is a fore-coming of Light, the adverse forces resist the strongest.
   
   So remember we are not growing from darkness to Light, we are growing from a lesser Light to a greater Light. It is just that sometimes we grow in a spiral rather than a straight line, and we may seem to go backward, before moving forward again. I have learnt from an extraordinary Teacher, and so I am very optimistic. After all, this is God's world, not ours, and it is His business to look after it.
   
   According to Yoga philosophy, ours is to do our part, a message which I see repeated by the Christ, Paul and all great Teachers.

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