Gloomy World Events Cause People With Comfortable Lives To Worry

Are you living in a first-world democracy, with things like (relative) freedom, liberty, and economic stability, and are you worrying about distressing world events?

It probably appears as if the world is tearing apart at the seams, with Iraq, ISIS, Israel, Gaza, Hamas, Ukraine, Russia, Ferguson, beheadings, murders, violence and mayhem, oh my! And yes, it does seem there is a steady shit storm the past few months, pounding away at our thoughts and our emotions. And okay, I can totally relate to this sentiment, and it’s understandable when contrasted against our life experiences and our perceptions. Regardless of our comfy situation, if we are paying attention to the news, who wouldn’t feel a bit unnerved, right?

But if the past few months has you increasingly worrying about the future for you and your children, you need to get some perspective. There are people living in this world dealing with this level of fear and violence every day of their usually short lives. I’m not making light of these important and dangerous events, but this moment is no more special than any other moment in human history where multiple terrifying events were unfolding.

And in no way should anything I’ve said make someone think it is acceptable to be passive and complacent when facing a civil liberties issue in their own little part of the world, like the residents of Ferguson, Missouri have faced over the past two weeks.

There are plenty of legitimate things that should make us concerned for the future, things like climate change and access to depleting natural resources, and we should channel that fear into constructive solutions. But for those of us in cushy life situations relative to chaotic regions of the world, fear of recent dreary events, if used as a predictor of a future world, does nothing more than compound itself.

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