What Is Wrong With This World?

     I know it's been a long time since I posted anything. Health and emotional problems have overwhelmed me these past few months. My mind has been full of fears, panic, paranoia, and feeling lost. Last night in bed I finally began to sort out some of the feelings and thoughts that have been haunting me, and here is what I came up with:

    After 72 years of feeling all my idealism, hopes, and dreams slowly slip away with the sands of time--never to return--I know what's wrong with the world now. Avarice--greed for power and wealth is the dominating force in nearly all of humanity.

    Ironically, or maybe intentionally, Thomas Jefferson laid the foundation in the Declaration of Independence: "...Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Those in power latched onto this, but in their pursuit of happiness (for themselves, of course, not the greater good), they deprived the majority of humanity their life and liberty. The have-nots, Indigenous Peoples, immigrants, etc. were marginalized, even scapegoated, and often considered inferior because they didn't have the same opportunities to pursue wealth. In fact, they were often prevented from those opportunities by those very people with the power. Money and power and success have become the idols/gods of this world, and it's even truer today than ever.

    Although a student of history (of which there are too few) can tell you that the world has been this way ever since Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit.

    And what about Jefferson's other famous phrase: "...All men are created equal..."?  In 1776, he meant only men, of course. Women weren't considered equal to men (except in a few Indigenous cultures, such as the Cherokee). In many ways, they still aren't, especially in the United States. The saddest part is that Jesus treated women as equally important to men, and the Early Church had women leaders. But the church that has taken His name was drawn into the power game and has been forever since ruled by men, with only a few exceptions.

    Also, there's that problematic word "equal". George Orwell stated if quite well in his book Animal Farm, when the pigs declared, "Some are more equal than others." This type of thinking is still at large in the world today, especially in current US political circles. History just keeps repeating itself.