“Things are going downhill.”
“We need to stop this before it gets worse.”
“Back in my day we never had this mess.”
Embedded in these statements is an implicit “things used to be better.” Sometimes that is true. Yet there remains the pervasive idea that things are worse now and we need to “return to” something.
Challenge question: “When were things great for everyone? At what point in history was 99% of the human race experiencing a life free of struggles and corruption and failing?”
When in history were these things — globally, for all peoples — not an issue?
- Lack of accountability
- Partisan news
- Lying politicians and corrupt rulers
- Ungrateful youth
- Nepotism and favoritism surpassing competence
- Elders resistant to progress
- Racism, sexism, classism
- Elites believing they have the right ideas
- People believing wild rumors and rejecting facts
- Censorship and suppression of information
- Failures of masculinity and femininity
- Unfair employer practices
- Distrust in institutions
- Wealth spent foolishly
We have made enormous progress, and there is still progress needed. People have experienced “Camelot” moments in time but they didn’t last and certainly didn’t include many people. Heaven is in the future, not the past.
Watch out for this: Many manipulators and unscrupulous leaders desiring power will constantly refer you back to some time “before X was lost.” The scrape the wounds rather than heal them because they know open wounds ooze energy and passion. They don’t want to solve the issue, just make promises in a way that pulls you into their orbit and fuels their desires. This is at the root of many mob behaviors.
