3 or 4 times a year I post about the unfounded and nonsensical claim that ‘society is worse than ever,’ or ‘people are worse than they used to be.’ People have been saying this for thousands of years. They are still wrong. If I stare at a red circle long enough, then look away, the reddish image will move around with my vision, discoloring everything. Cynicism, anger and distrust all filter us.
Look away from whatever convinces you that people or the world is corrupt or devoid of fantastic things. Silence still exists, as do courtesy, imagination, and intelligence.
It is vital to remember that if you are seeing red frequently, it is time for you to blink and look away. And look again, free of your insistence that your eyes are telling you the whole truth.
If you want to shout that the world has gone mad or that people are somehow worse than they once were, you are doing so in defiance of the evidence visible to everyone else who isn’t seeing out your front window.
PS: The picture is one I made from a year or two ago. Always relevant – as tempers flare and the cynics attempt to gain attention.
P.S. Parenthetically Speaking 