Good morning, God, and thanks much for this new day in our lives! We have another set of hours to do with as we will, and I hope that I'm able to make those hours productive and useful and enjoyable.
As you know, we had another massacre in our country a few days ago. Meanwhile, the politicians keep attacking each other, more and more people are going into debt and struggling financially, the schisms between groups--political, racial, ethnic, you name it--are growing wider and people are getting more and more angry at each other, calling each other names and threatening each other over the most ridiculous of causes. . . it makes me wonder just what we're supposed to do. How can we fix the world? How can we help people to care for each other rather than be angry at each other and try to hurt each other? Not a lot makes sense these days, and it seems that things keep on getting worse. Corporations are growing stronger and controlling more and more of our money and resources, while millions of people have to do without--though many of them can afford their cell phones and monthly data plans.
When I was a kid, I thought the world would be a much better place by now. There would be more equality, we would have figured out how to spread prosperity around so that more could live full lives. We wouldn't have so many differences based on gender and race. And to a certain extent, that has come to pass, but at the same time, in some areas things are even worse.
And what can I do about it? I've never felt so helpless and so lacking in influence. We have two negative candidates for president, and I don't want to vote for either of them. So what do we do? How do I find something to do that can help me to feel that I'm actually doing something about situations that bother me so much? I don't want to be a person who complains without doing something about the situation, but I'm also not in a position of influence who can change these things. It's very frustrating, and there seems to be no end in sight for the frustration.
A reply:
Things will always go wrong. You're a human being, exercising your free will, and you're surrounded by other humans who are also exercising their free will. The major problem is that not every human being exercises free will with an eye on their responsibilities to their fellow people and their societies. Not every person looks for the common good, but for their own good, no matter what they say they're doing. Not every person uses their creativity and imagination--they simply do what others have been doing because it's somehow "safer." People allow themselves to be ruled by their fears rather than their love and compassion. Add to this the fact that these days, because of technology, you have a much broader view of the world around you and you see things that you never would have seen before, and you have a very difficult world to live in. That is, it's difficult to live in if you care about your fellow humans and you hope to make the world a better place. Which is most people. It's rather easy to live in if you want to take advantage of others and look out for your own good only. The human race is full of predators. It always has been and it always will be, unfortunately. I didn't make you that way--it's just that many people choose that path because they're afraid of the paths of love and compassion. They're so afraid that they won't have control over themselves and others that they create what they believe to be control by hurting others instead of helping them.
But your bigger question was what you can do about it to allay your frustration. And it's a very good question. First of all, it's important to remember that you're not the caretaker of the world and that it's not your responsibility to fix all of the problems of the world. You have your own sphere of influence, and it's important that you recognize it and be well aware of it, and then do your best to make sure that you put as much positive energy into that area as you can. For example, you're a teacher. You can teach young people to recognize the problems that they witness, but you can also teach them not to fear and to feel good about themselves. People who feel good about themselves are much less likely to need to hurt others than those people who feel very bad about themselves.
A confident person is much less likely to respond to a hurt with another hurt, so you can teach young people to have confidence. An educated person is much more likely to recognize problems that are occurring than someone who doesn't have a broad field of knowledge, so teach the young people to see the world in its entirety, and not just in small slivers that reflect their own self-interests.
You know other things you can teach. You know how to make people feel good about themselves. Compliments and encouragement really can change the world. And your students may not go out and change the world themselves, but they may parent a child who does. Do the absolute best you can within your sphere of influence--you are where you are for a number of reasons--and you will have a positive influence on the world. You just won't see it in the news. You may never see any concrete results at all, but that's what faith is all about--keeping on even when you don't see results.
And learn to love the frustration. It's a sure sign that you really do care, that you really do love.
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