Laugh, Cry, Hope and Perspective

In the previous post of Party Like It’s 1984! I detailed several of the things wrong with how our global society is going.  We haven’t done that well, if that is the only scorecard in play.  Depending on your personal state of chemical imbalance, you could fall into a cold, damp pit of darkest despair about humans.

Like most things, there are other sides to the story that do give you hope if you have the right eyes to look at it.  When the light is right and the planets line up properly, humans are stumbling along approximately forward. 

North Americans have a better life than 90 percent of the rest of the world.  Nobody shows up in our neighborhoods with machetes and starts killing everyone in sight because we’re Anglicans or aren’t the proper colour of white, brown, red, black or yellow.  We don’t have dignity battalions, death squads, guerrillas and rebels roaming the countryside near Toledo, Ohio terrorizing farmers and offering to slaughter whole extended families in exchange for political support. 

The vast majority of North Americans go to sleep with a roof over the heads and a full belly, reasonably certain they will wake up the next morning without a volcano, earthquake, monsoon or tsunami wiping them off the face of the Earth.  We have flush toilets and clean water that we don’t have to walk 11 miles through an unmarked minefield to obtain.  Our offspring can go to school and get an education that is at least adequate.

I have personally waved over a Washington DC cop and asked for assistance without fear of being shot, robbed, kidnapped, gang raped or disappeared.  The Fire Department will come if you have an emergency and not demand payment up front, in cash.  Ambulance service does not consist of a wheelbarrow and eleven well-meaning strangers who rob you, while taking you to a public toilet for medical care. 

Cars, trucks and pedestrians do not regularly explode on downtown streets, scattering nails, screws and body parts everywhere.

Our stores have food all the time, 24 hours a day.  The lights are on.  We can drive, fly or take the train just about anywhere our means, money and whims will let us.

The worst thing most of us in North America will face tomorrow is a snotty attitude from a barista at the coffee shop.  We’re damn lucky here.  We don’t appreciate it, but we are damn lucky.

This also explains why everyone else wants to come to North America:  To get the hell away from all that other madness.  Yes, we do have problems in North America, serious ones at that, but with a pittance of planetary perspective, we’re doing very well.

I think our biggest problem is we have forgotten how to be civilized to each other and find simple pleasures in uncomplicated things that are all around us.  Here’s some of the things I did or saw in the last few days and a suggestion or two.

I watched a beautiful sunrise this morning.  I sat here and watched it unfold for twenty minutes without answering email, reading the paper, or text messaging someone.     

The trees are budding furiously, waking up from winter.  I heard geese yesterday flying back north for the summer. 

Two evenings ago a family of new Canadians in the apartment building were struggling with the clutter of kids, groceries and strollers, while getting on the elevator.  I helped Mom with some bags and held the elevator for them.  She said thanks and I said you’re welcome.  It was a very simple act of helping another human.  It costs nothing, takes very little time and makes a small, imperceptible deposit in the bank of personal karma.

Wave someone into traffic in front of you, or let a pedestrian cross without trying to kill them.

If you must talk on your cellphone constantly, please lower your voice.  Nobody else wants to hear about Joanne’s yeast infection, thanks.

Spend some time looking out the window while on the bus, subway or streetcar.  See what other people are doing.  You might find they are just like you. 

Read something that will stretch your brain.  This does not include "People" or the "National Enquirer".

Take guilty pleasure in Paris Hilton getting 45 days in the L.A. County Jail.  You are allowed to laugh at others’ misfortunes, but try to laugh at your own foibles more often.

Answer a question with "I don’t know", then find out what you don’t know.  You’ll be amazed at the depth of your ignorance.  We know so little about so many things. 

Look a squirrel, bird or other animal square in the eye and say "Hello".  They’re just as confused as we are, except they cope with it better.

And, my personal favourite, from Warren Zevon, when he found out he had about six months left to live having been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer:

Enjoy every sandwich.

Will those suggestions or ideas make everything better overnight?  No, of course not.  However, a bit of civility, some laughter, a dash of gratitude and the occasional effort to improve will make our passage through the days a little less fraught. 

There is hope as long as we keep some perspective.