We've heard it all before. Musicians and others with these dystopian songs about how everything is going down the drain. Most recently to do this is the band Matchbox 20, with their song, "How Far We've Come." The lyrics to the chorus include:
But I believe the world is burning to the ground
oh well I guess we're gonna find out
let's see how far we've come
let's see how far we've come
Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an end
oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,
let's see how far we've come
let's see how far we've come
Another lyric says:
I sat down on the street, took a look at myself
said where you going man you know the world is headed for hell
I know you've heard me on this topic before, but I always get so ticked off when people sing about and talk about this sort of pessimism that everything is falling apart.
I heard somewhere that throughout the generations, two things have remained true:
-The world is constantly getting better.
-Everybody thinks it's getting worse.
And I really agree with that. How is the world worse off than it was 10 years ago? 50 years? 100 years? 500 years? All I can see are VAST improvements through the generations. Life expectancy is going up almost everywhere, there are cures for diseases that once plagued us, more people are being fed than ever. Thanks to the internet and other forms of communication, people all around the world are able to get the knowledge and information they need. People get more information in one newspaper today than someone did in their WHOLE LIFE 300 years ago.
We still have strides to take before everyone is being fed, and poverty ends. But I believe we're getting there. And we're getting there thanks to technological, scientific, and medical advances, and so on. Things are not worse off than before, we're just more aware of everything around us.
Yes, let's look at how far we've come. It's been a long way. But we have so much more ground to cover. I'm optimistic.
