We're all in this together

The problem in this world right now seems to be organized groups of people. Religious organizations are critical and volitrol of those who do not believe their same "truth," gangs intimidate and murder those not on their side, and Republicans are supporting and (mostly) excited about the possibility of a Trump presidency. I realize not everything has a simple solution, but why make it more difficult than it needs to be? The truth is we are dividing ourselves to unite together. If this confuses you as much as it confuses me, then we are on the same page. There are many social and political issues that need to be addressed in the coming years, some of which should be taken care of much sooner. Hate, instability, fear, inequality, violence, selfishness, close mindedness, and division is at an all-time high. These are not the words to describe a brilliant society built up by our own species. I won't bother getting into what sort of "help" we may have received (from a God, from another supreme being, or even aliens) to get this point across, because it's irrelevant. Human beings have gotten this far. Together. I will take into account many illustrious structures and global institutions have been built on the backs of slaves, minorities, and at the expense of the poor, but this can easily change. Not EVERYTHING in this society was done unethically (although I will admit a majority of it was in fact, a gross violation of human rights).

The thing that really bothers me about the state of the world right now can be summarized simply: apathy. Not caring that all these disastrous events are occurring is detrimental to us as a whole because you cannot seriously believe that one thing on the other side of the world has absolutely no effect on you in another part of the world. We are in this together. I feel myself repeating this over and over again and I will continue until everyone finally realizes this. There is no where else to go. I don't mean after we die, I mean right now.. In this life. Apathy is going to kill us. We need to be doing something, anything. Do not ever let anyone tell you that posting on social media does not do anything. Do not ever let anyone tell you that speaking out is wrong or won't fix anything anyway. If everyone thought like this, no one would talk about it and the news would not cover it, people would not know about it, people would not care, and no one would begin to internalize these struggles and take action. So I say saturate your feeds with articles on terrible world tragedies, tweet a controversial idea, write a passionate blog post about the state of the world.. JUST DO SOMETHING.

Maybe you are an online activist, maybe you are hoping to lead protests, maybe you spark discussions among your friends, maybe you desire to have a career in activism, maybe you simply need to tell the world to wake up. It does not matter what your platform is, stick with it and do not let others deter you from promoting real change. This is the premiere technological generation in the sense that we are using the Internet for more than school and personal pleasures, we are using it to share ideas and rally together. Don't allow naysayers to deter you from speaking out, from doing whatever you believe is right, or from truly critically thinking about our global society. We have the power to speak with others in most parts of the world with the click of a button. We SHOULD be using that to speak about our views on politics, terrorism, war, religion, health, education, human rights, poverty, and social issues. It should not solely be used for sharing the funny video you found on Buzzfeed or the pictures from your latest vacation. We need to start using it to promote real change. We can use it to show that your thoughts and ideas and beliefs are validated; you are not alone in your thinking. Currently we are rallying around our own individual groups (race, religion, country) and we should reconsider this. If we broke down these barriers we could be a collective society promoting peace, unity, respect for differences, and love. What could be better?

Just because it hasn't been done before does not mean it cannot be done. If you are willing to change (like everything in life) it can happen. It won't be easy, it won't be pretty, and it won't be quick. But we need to seriously think about the state of this beautiful planet and the role we have had in destroying from the inside out.