There's a lot wrong with this precious planet of ours, and the people who inhabit it.
It seems we are sleepwalking away from an inclusive future where we all benefit towards a hellish nightmare where the richest among us eat everything on the table and then barge in for seconds.
As an Australian, I live in one of the most (statistically-speaking) egalitarian nations on the planet. But it's not equal for all. It's not the same for everyone. For those of us living a privileged life, it can be hard to see that the benefits of citizenship don't flow equally to all. And there are those here who think sharing wealth with those less well off is a bad thing.
The greatest irony of all is that many of these people call themselves followers of Jesus.
That's a really hard one to reconcile.
So when I say I am grateful to live in the now, I say it in the understanding that I live a privileged existence which many of my fellow Australians, not to mention the billions around the world, don't actually share.
Why am I grateful to live in the now? Well, despite all the bad things (again, statistically-speaking) there are less wars, less disease, less people dying as a proportion of Earth's population than at any time in history. Many of us have have medicine and hospitals and education and intellectual freedom.
And here's the thing. It can get even better than it is now. For all of us.
There are a few things which have helped bring about this success. Social democracies and international law - both at risk under the prevailing winds of geopolitical change in many "Western" nations towards authoritarianism. And science - again, at risk under the prevailing sentiment of many politicians (who believe engineers and physicists that planes and bridges are safe to use, but not climate scientists who use exactly the same methodology when they tell us to wake up and stop spewing carbon pollution into the atmosphere.
And why?
Who the hell knows?
I sure don't understand it.
I want to leave the planet in better shape than when I arrived. And frankly, for the sake of our children, so should we all.
Photo courtesy of pixabay.com
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