radical

I recently took an inventory of what I wish the world was like. No one will argue that it seems like society has taken a turn of some kind. Bad? We are haunted by romantic histories of quintessentially genteel, slower ane more human pasts. And now we rush about ignoring each other to the point of isolation under artificial lights and get our sense of community at a shopping mall.

I expected my inventory to be about family... since I have always been clear on knowing at least that much about what's important. And maybe in a way, it did. The common theme that I noticed was that I believe in human goodness. Not necessarily at an individual level, but as a group, on the broader scale. This surprised me a lot, because I deeply care for particularly few individuals.

I just read this BBC Article about 6 month old babies preferring puppets who are socially kind. I think this might punctuate my point. We prefer to be helpful, loving, and kind. We may not be good at it, but that's what we prefer. And that's how we see ourselves, generally: as "nice."

I'm usually pretty annoyed by the government, so I was also surprised at how much credit I give to the government as an institution that has lost it's way. I still think there is hope... but much to change in order to keep that hope.

Most of all, I really care about social equality and social responsibility. I think in our "American Dream," we get caught up in serving ourselves We forget that in terms of making a better world, getting ahead of each other may not be as easy or advantageous as creating a just and equitable world for everyone. The masses have much more power to facilitate massive economic reform than one person with a home-business... and creater wealth and stability for everyone is better than 2% of the U.S. population owning over 50% of the world's wealth. Interestingly, Bill Gates owns more than twice what Saudi Arabia does.

I guess believing in people, freedom, and equality makes me a radical. Dude.