The world seems to be a big mess at the moment but that’s something that shouldn’t be as focused on as it is right now. ‘They’ say it is necessary to focus on the bad, but who is ‘they’? We all have lives that need to be lived – and we need to truly live them to prove to ourselves and those around us that there is more good in the world, more neutral even, than there is true evil. If all we focus on is the big catastrophes and the evil in the world, then we will merely accept it as fact and perpetuate it through our negative expectations. But if we see the good, advertise the good, and accept the neutral, this will be the new cultural norm.
We need to return to the trust and community that we once had. Learn the names of your neighbours and write them Christmas cards, remember the birthdays of your friends instead of outsourcing to social media, write people letters rather than hoarding group chats you’ll never read, know more faces than usernames. We have lost touch with our human nature and have been told that to have every whim catered to without having to leave the house is the epitome of success. But fewer people cook for themselves nowadays due to delivery food, the high street is fading from the lure of online shopping, and nobody slows down to look at the stars on the darker nights, eager to rush home to where we’ve been told is the only safe haven left.
Yes there can be bad things in the world, I am not ignoring that. But we have forgotten to hone in on the good. We focus on fighting people we don’t know about issues we don’t research, looking at strangers with suspicion rather than a smile, and taking sides instead of cruising down the middle lane. We have become divided by the echo chambers that the online world tries to convince us are reflected in physical reality. But the real world is much more nuanced than the internet warriors who know how to shout the loudest. If you speak to someone on the street, you will get a much less binary view of the world and things will make more sense than the extreme ideas the invisible masses scream about.
Slowing down and having hope and trust (and maybe a newfound belief in pixie dust) are the balm of the modern world which thrives on fast paced hate and suspicion with more belief in hellfire than magic. Joy and whimsy, and stopping to smell the flowers after the rain should be the backbone of life. Connections with family and/ or friends and community, with a desire to help, learn and grow, will build a better world for the communities we want to create. And we can each do this, without rejecting that there are flaws in the world and people who do wish harm on others, but believing that there are more people that want to help, and more things that bring beauty and awe.
What we need is to be the people we want to find. Hopeful, friendly, and trustworthy. There is immense power in the power of hope and a desire to be good. If you take that stand, then you set an example for others to follow. Like will attract like, and a community of honest friendly folk can grow and the world will be forced to slow down as we all pause to look up at the stars every now and again.
This is not a quick fix, nor is it easy to believe in goodness in a world obsessed with the bad. But I truly believe that it is worth it. Even if it doesn’t change the whole world, it might just change your life. We need to remember that, for better or for worse, we are our own world and life is what we make it. I want to make mine a good life. And I choose to see a world that is beautiful.
Imagination Mansion 