No Hope for Humanity?

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. [And that which is dirty can become clean.]”
       - Mohandas K. Gandhi

This past month I have been reflecting heavily on how corrupt humanity seems to be.  No matter where I turn I see people doing evil, negative, or stupid things. 

I’ve seen a YouTube video of a young woman chucking yelping, baby puppies into a river as if they were merely rocks.

I’ve heard of a horrific videotaping of three guys brutally murdering an innocent man with a hammer in the middle of the woods. 

I see people that I know constantly making stupid decisions that ruin their lives and their health.

I hear of a six month year old child contracting HIV from being sexually abused by family members.

I see commercials on television showing impoverished children with bloated bellies and bare feet.

I hear of all the government scandals and the endless corruption that is present in our politics.

When does it end?

I’m sickened by how fellow human beings can commit such atrocities to themselves and to others.  Do the people who commit these disgusting crimes really have no sense of respect for life, others, and themselves?  Where is their humanity?  Where is their self-control?

What really scares me is the fact that I, along with many others, often stand on the sidelines watching all these atrocities, perhaps with a sense of pity and sympathy, but remain stagnant nonetheless.  In some’s defense, perhaps they remain inactive because they are oblivious to many of the evils of the world, or, maybe they are aware, but are not positive on what action to take.  Many others are fully cognitive of the evil around them, but are too selfish or lazy to take any real action.  Albert Einstein once brilliantly stated: “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

My hope in humanity, to say the least, has been fading fast. 

The other day, however, I came across a quote (which is displayed at the beginning of this post—which, if you just skimmed over it, go back and really reread it.) from Mohandas Gandhi, one of my favorite historical figures of all time.  As I was drinking in this wise man’s simple words, it really hit me.

 

Yes, there are a lot of “bad” people out there who do bad things. 

There is a ton of corruption .

A plethora of negativity.

An endless amount of stupidity.

And plenty of evil.

But, even with all this bad present in the world, there is also good.

There are people who are passionate about and respect life—whether human or not.

There are people who desire to bring an end to corruption.

There are people who are honest and have characters of integrity.

There are people who are generous.

There are people who make wise decisions.

There are people who are good.

I think I sometimes focus too much on all the bad things/people in the world that I lose track of all the good things/people that also populate our vast planet.  As Gandhi said, even though there may seemingly be a multitude of “dirty drops” present in a body of water, that doesn’t mean that the ocean in its entirety is dirty or corrupt. 

Very slowly, I’m beginning to regain my faith in humanity and starting to perceive all the good and beauty that is still plentiful in the world and also in fellow human beings.

I’m going to conclude this blog post with the wise, straightforward words of the Chinese philosopher Confucius:

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”