Disdain

"The older I get, the more disdain I feel for the human race," he posted on Facebook, referencing the horrible movie theatre massacre in Colorado. In his late 20's,  he is at that point where he is no longer a kid, and the grim realities of life are disillusioning him. I know how that feels, for I went through that myself when I was his age. That unique cynicism of the young, where we have lived long enough to see some awful things, but not long enough to be able to put it into its proper perspective. I allowed him his feelings, for they are real, then I commented, "Most people are good. They just don't get the publicity that the others do."

I don't think the world is going to hell in a handbasket. It just seems that way sometimes. Go back in history and we can always find examples of man's inhumanity to man. It's not getting worse. But it's in our face all the time. We have the radio, television, magazines and newspapers that earlier generations had, plus the internet. We have computers in our homes and on our desks at work; why, we even carry little computers in our phones. The horror of all that is wrong with the world is at our fingertips 24/7. We watch the same images over and over, and it's as if it is happening time and again.

We know what is happening anywhere in the world right as it is happening, in real time. We Twitter and Facebook it, and I adore social media, but it has taken us out of our own little world and immersed us into everything that is happening at all once. It's hard to take it all in. It can feel overwhelming. If we aren't careful to manage it well, it can make us feel as though this world that we live in is a horrible place, and it's not. And if we feel that way as adults, how much more so do children when parents aren't careful about what they hear and see and watch.

The human race is no different than it ever has been. The world is a wonderful place, filled with mostly good people. They just don't get the publicity that the others do.

Susan