Asked by a wise friend: “What do you think the biggest problem in the world is?” And, “Who do you think is responsible?”
Our minds wander in well-crafted webs hailing from all sorts of angles…
What’s the problem?
Climate change
Coronavirus
Crime
The economy
Education
Gas prices
Gender confusion
Gerrymandering
Healthcare
Inept political leadership
Inequality
Inflation
Injustice
Militant feminism
Partisanship
Poverty
Supply chain issues
Systemic oppression
Toxic masculinity
A victimhood mentality
And more, of course.
Who’s responsible?
Democrats
Republicans
Socialists
Google
Social media
Mass media
Academia
Atheists
Evangelicals
Jews
Muslims
The young
The old
The rich
The famous
And also more, of course.
Fascinatingly, we each have an opinion on all of the above. We each, too, oft fall prey to the foolhardy mental refrain, muttering something along the lines of “Thank God I’m not like those other people!”
Better yet… “Thank God I’m not a Democrat!”… “Thank God I’m not a Republican!”… “Thank God I’m not like them!”… The emphasis is always on “them.” And just like that, we absolve ourselves of any contributory role; we blame the totality of life’s biggest problems on someone other than self. To be clear, that’s a really easy thing to do.
Easy, but not necessarily wise. Nor accurate.
As of this writing, there are approximately 7,938,319,197 people in the world. That tells me that there are approximately 7,938,319,197 people contributing to the biggest problems in the world today.
How would it change our mindset if we realized that? How would it change the way we interacted with others? How would it move us from individual postures of unrealized arrogance to those of attractive, contagious humility?
My guess is that as long as we hold someone else wholly responsible — with no admission of individual involvement — via either action, conviction or even quiet disposition — the world’s biggest problems will continue to swell.
Hence, in a world that’s so obviously, incredibly broken, let’s be brokers of peace. Let’s bring peace as opposed to subtly or not so subtly contribute to chaos. Let’s start with humility.
Respectfully…
AR