I know I’m an idealistic dreamer, but I do dream of a world where each of us has the opportunity to reach our full potential.  I dream that one day education will be just as valued as athletics, that serving the community will be as justly rewarded as exploiting it, and that individual greed will supplanted by cooperation and compassion.  Yes, I’m probably foolish and naive, but in my heart of hearts, I believe that such a world is still possible.  It may take the utter collapse and ruin of our current modus operandi for it to come to fruition, but I still believe that humanity has the potential to create such a world.

If that makes me a dirty, evil socialist, then that’s what I am.  While I’m not a religious person and believe that all religions are for-profit enterprises, I do believe in the Seven Deadly Sins, and I believe that a society that is built upon promoting and rewarding those sins is doomed to fail.  If we are to exist as a species that lives in highly sophisticated social networks and complex urban centers, then we have to live in a manner that provides opportunities for all to compete.  That’s not to say all will win.  That’s a foolish notion, but unless everyone has an opportunity to strive for a better life, freedom is just a lie.

We’re at the end of an era.  We are either going to find new approaches to how we interact with our environment or we are going to perish.  We will either progress forward in how we interact with one another, or we will kill ourselves into extinction.  The choice is ours.  Personally, I do not fear for tomorrow because I believe that we as a species are smart enough to find solutions to our most difficult issues, and while there will always be the fear-mongers who use hate and irrational rage to empower themselves, truth eventually wins out, justice eventually triumphs.  Again, I am probably foolish and naive, but I still believe that we as a species are moving forward to a better life, even if the steps may sometimes be too small for one generation to see clearly.