Who Cares?

I have been struggling to come up with an appropriate title for this piece. Hopefully, I will have something by the time I finish. The truth is, it is not only the title that is giving me trouble. The entire subject has been a source of consternation and confusion for much of my life. It is only recently that I discovered the cause of my confusion. To the surprise of no one who knows me, it was me. Allow me to offer a brief explanation as to how this happened. I saw a problem. I thought about it and tried to suss out a solution. Okay so far, right? Here's where I went off the track: I had hope that the problem could be solved. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Hope is foolish. At least not all the time. In this case, it is. That particular truth took me a long time to accept. What in Hell am I talking about, you ask? That's easy to explain.
PROBLEM: How do we ensure that Humanity does not destroy itself?
SOLUTION: None.
REASON: Humanity.

There are two ways that Humanity can be rendered extinct. One is by virtue of forces beyond our control. An asteroid or comet slamming into us, a natural disaster of such magnitude that the entire planet becomes uninhabitable, that sort of thing. The other is by virtue of things that are completely under our control, should we choose to exercise that control. I believe the latter to be a more likely cause of our inevitable destruction. Why do I say that and why do I believe it is inevitable?
There are two things standing in the way of Humanity saving itself from itself. Apathy and hatred.
We have heard Apathy described as not caring about anything. In my observation, this is almost never true. In fact, the more I think about it, I'm not sure I've ever met a truly apathetic person. Everyone cares about something. The problem is, it is all too rarely the right thing. Our priorities are all screwed up. Believe it or not, there are people in this country who refuse to vote in favor of a bill that will prevent millions of the working poor and uninsured children from continuing to go without basic medical care. Meanwhile, these same people rush breathlessly to vote in favor of a bill that will prevent Gays from marrying. With priorities like that, we're doomed. It's that simple. Of course, you can't blame our elected leaders for this attitude. They learned it from us.
Ask the average American how much it costs to keep someone in prison for two years for smoking pot and they'll likely have no idea. Now ask them how much Brad and Angelina paid for their house. Ask them how much Beyonce paid for her Prada handbag. See what I mean? It isn't that we don't care. It's just that we don't care enough about the important stuff. We're too busy preparing for the new season of Project Runway.
The generations that built and preserved this country were driven by the desires to explore, learn, achieve and create. The generation that now occupies this great land is driven by the desires of comfort and ease. My wife showed me an ad in the paper last night. A national chain, which shall remain unnamed here, had on sale a 7" portable television, with remote. How lazy are we, anyway? How far away will you be sitting from a 7" television that your lazy ass needs a remote? After the 1960's, full-serve gas all but went the way of the Dodo Bird, as self-service became the order of the day. Lately, I have noticed a resurgence in full-service. I have also noticed something else. In this age of declining oil production and rising gas prices, many are willing to pay even more to have someone else pump their gas. Why? Because they don't care. They are more concerned with their own comfort. If this generation had been charged with the task of building this nation, we would all be living in huts along the Eastern Seaboard. Of course, one thing would be the same, no matter how lazy we are. We are never too lazy to hate.
Even more than the apathy born of mixed-up priorities, it is our lust to hate that will be our undoing. We have invented more excuses to hate, distrust and ostracize each other than any reasonable person could even imagine. Of all the records set by all of the Civilizations that have come before us, that is the record we shatter. Rather than look for one reason to get along and cooperate, we have built an imposing list of excuses not to.
Race, Ethicity, Nationality, Language, skin color, skin shade, gender, age, State of residence, City of residence, neighborhood of residence, the school you attend, your hair color, the music you listen to, the foods you eat, your whole culture, a stutter (or any physical malady), your fashion choices, sexual orentation, the car you drive...I could keep going all day. We don't revel in our differences because they make us feel unique and interesting. We revel in them because we can twist them to make ourselves feel superior, giving us a reason to keep this person or that at arm's length. If I don't want to let you in my carpool because my Mercedes has windshield wipers on the headlights and your Honda Accord doesn't, it is unlikely we will join forces to solve a common problem. I will assume that you are too poor and lacking ambition to be able to help someone who operates at my level and you will assume that anyone stupid enough to pay $2,000 extra for a car just because it had a pair of useless wipers on the headlights probably doesn't have enough sense to help anyone with a real problem. Of the two, I believe the latter man has a better chance of having his assumption proven but that's just my opinion.
These are the reasons I don't fear the Antichrist. I think, if he showed up now, he would end up leaving in disgust, his mission unfulfilled. I probably won't be around to see it but I would love to watch him try to get this bunch of misfits up off their asses and agreeing on anything. We can't agree on crap. Show four people the same event at the same time and you will get four different descriptions of the event. Why? Perception. Now, try the same with six billion people. It is all about our perceptions and that is why we are doomed to fail as a race. We have allowed our perceptions to be colored in such a way that nothing seems important unless it directly impacts us and anyone who thinks or believes or even looks different is automatically to be shunned, avoided, mistrusted or abused. A true cooperative spirit must be in play for us to survive. Too, bad. That is the one achievement of which we have repeatedly proven to be totally incapable. If we can't put aside our petty differences of race, religion, political parties and all the rest, we will fail.
Oh, and the creature comforts that are so important to you that you can't tear yourself away from their pursuit long enough to pitch in and help with the very real problems that transcend class and status:
When this society collapses, they will be the first things you lose.
Let's all pray that doesn't happen before they announce the new American Idol.