Quote III: on where we are today

From the same, earlier article today:

We are swept by an impetuous current. Indeed, a cultural death is evident not only in our loss of values and in the degradation of wisdom into mere information, but also in the generalized devaluation of our earlier points of reference. Thus, a great part of the Western world's population is now disenchanted with governments, authorities, experts, ideologies, and even with science and philosophy, not to mention religions. "It is unforgivable that so many problems from the past are still with us, absorbing vast energies and resources desperately needed for nobler purposes," said U Thant -- then Secretary-General of the United Nations -- as early as 1970, on the occasion of the organization's anniversary. After proceeding to review some of these problems from the past, such as the armaments race, racism, violations of human rights, and "dreams of power and domination instead of fraternal coexistence," Secretary-General U Thant observed:


"While these antiquated concepts and attitudes persist, the rapid pace of change around us breeds new problems which cry for the world's collective attention and care: the increasing discrepancy between rich and poor nations, the scientific and technological gap, the population explosion, the deterioration of the environment, the urban proliferation, the drug problem, the alienation of youth, the excessive consumption of resources by insatiable societies and institutions. The very survival of a civilized and humane society seems to be at stake."
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What's fascinating about this all, to me, is that, first of all, it's "bigger picture" thinking.  It's taking in the whole world and noting the conditions we're in instead of localizing problems to just us in the United States.  Second, it emphasizes, instead of just the problems, that there is a way for growth--that all this is--or could be, anyway--"growing pains", of a sort.  Things we have to go through in order to become something new and--forgive me--improved.  It's a bigger picture thinking that encompasses both all of us on the planet and humankind through time.

We'll come out on the "other side" but the question is, will we have learned and improved from the experiences?

Here's hoping.

Get out there and enjoy the day and weather.

Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jean-houston/beyond-the-pathology-of-h_b_721610.html?ref=fb&src=sp