This past week I had the opportunity to watch a documentary called "I Am" by Tom Shadyac. The director (who is famous for his films such as "Ace Ventura" and "Evan Almighty") focused on the problems of our world and the culture we're creating for ourselves. He goes into depth about the changes we're not making and how detrimental it can be to the wellness of the human race.
This film got me thinking about life and how we've got it wrong. The documentary opened with the Black Eyed Pea's song "Where Is The Love," which really set the theme for the rest of the movie. It made me realize that we don't have our priorities straight in this life. The main three problems I can link to this world is: hypocrisy, cultivation, and apathy.
In this age, people don't practice what they preach. Many say one thing and do the other, which produces hypocrisy. The problem with this is that there is no change in the world when we rely on each other to make a difference. It's like handing off a job to someone else and hoping they'll finish it, even when it's your own task to accomplish. From religious tolerance to being eco-friendly, everyone wants change, it's just that we don't have the power to follow through with our actions.
When it comes to cultivation, I'd say we have it partially figured out. We are great at cultivating and growing, but the way we're doing it and the direction we're going in isn't exactly what I had in mind. We're focused on the wrong things and are putting too much time and energy into it. Hatred and intolerance seem to be growing and thriving in our society, which is affecting us negatively. We're developing skills in the wrong areas and need to learn from our mistakes. However, it seems that we're so concentrated on ourselves that we ignore everything else around us. It's like watering the weeds in a garden; we forget about the flowers and let the unwanted grass consume it all. We're ruining our world, and it's happening because our society is truly becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Lastly, the rise of apathy has truly taken its toll on us and our culture. We just don't care anymore. We think it's too late to fix all our past mistakes. We've given up. This negative mindset has impacted us because people have lost their drive to keep going. An example would we politics in the United States. People had both positive and negative emotions when the final votes were counted, and the country swore in Donald Trump as their next president. Within minutes, there were both riots and celebrations about the news. People let their emotions get the best of them, and there was a sudden surge of energy exploding across the nation. People were motivated and inspired for months after, letting their voices be heard. But once again like everything else, the energy dissipated and people began to not care anymore. Apathy is clearly evident in todays world and it affects the way we live our day to day lives.
What's wrong with the world? Personally, I think it's that we've lost our drive and compassion. We're too materialistic and focus on what we receive rather than what we get out of it.
