From Optimism to Pessimism (Georgie)
Well, it’s taken me halfway into my Arts course to realise, but the world is screwed.
This realisation came during my Holocuast and Genocide tutorial on the Sudan genocide, a day after we had a Sudanese refugee talk to us. There is no realistic solution and it’s not only Sudan, all of Africa can look forward to a future of corrupt governments, poverty, ill health and civil wars.
Then in Australian Foreign Relations we discovered that the UN is largely a redundant, ineffective organisation. And in Terrorism: Shifting Paradigms we found no viable counter terrorism strategies.
My view was then compounded when we talked about the AWB scandal in Public Policy. Our group discussion was on how effective corporate accountability is. In reality, there is very little corporate accountability and this is impossible to solve! Businesses have to get their hands dirty in a corrupt world in order to be viable.
When we told our tutor he quoted Socrates ‘I know one thing and that is that I know nothing’ and said that it is better to know what’s going on than to live in ignorance.
I want my ignorant optimism back! I used to be an optimist, I wanted to be a politician and change the world for the better!
But now I sadly realise, that optimism is foolish and that if the world isn’t plagued by cyclones in Burma or earthquakes in china, man will destroy itself through global warming or war or oppression of each other.
I feel helpless and as if there is no solution to anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
change will always be slow. Either we keep trying make the world better or ignore it and let it get worst. So we have to continue to be optimistic. there are many good things to life too. aren’t u goin on exchange?
So maybe we’re screwed, but I think that we’re a lot less screwed than we could be.
The Economist, for instance, has some surprisingly optimistic data in this article from last January:
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10564141
I agree. I feel so powerless and frustrated about it at times. Every day it’s something else. And if nothing bad happens, well global warming will kill us anyways.
Somehow I still remain an optimist though. There are some really amazing people out there and meeting those people gives me hope that maybe we will overcome some of these things.
I’ve had the ignorance is bliss debate many a time, and the conclusion I’ve reached is that ignorance sounds good in theory but it’s just an excuse for not taking responsibility – and well, life and being an “adult” is about taking responsibility and being a good global citizen. For those of us who have the capacity to break away from the masses and see things with our eyes wide-open, it is us who must be the change agents.
Everything helps, whether it’s explaining to your clueless friend a political situation or environment issue or changing to energy efficient light bulbs at home….to joining organizations like “Get Up” or even going as far to actually volunteer within organisations that attempt to make a difference. If you don’t have time, give the money.
You might not be able to save the world tomorrow or by yourself, but if we have any hope – it’s through combining the small efforts of everyone world-wide attempting to somehow get the message out there that some of us DO care and that we what change for the better.
If you live your life as an individual who attempts to make a difference, at least you can live with a clearer conscience than the person who never tried to change anything at all.
And affecting the life of one person for the better, makes all the bad days worth it. 🙂
Didn’t mean to make that a whole speech!!!