Truth Decay

I was born twenty-five years ago, right at the beginning of this new millennium. Many of you were born into a world quite unrecognisable from the world I was born into, and that world too has changed more than I can even put into words in the short time I’ve been alive. While threats of climate catastrophe, wealth inequality and political unrest have been trending for as long as I can remember, the incremental progress we have made is completely negligible to the forces at play here.

For every good choice we make, for every time we conserve, we reuse, and refrain from frivolous spending, there are hundreds, if not thousands, who make bad choices. They take selfish action, and disregard the consequences they know about, deep down. You don’t need to be able to read climate graphs to have the respect not to litter, nor do you need to be able to give a political speech to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves… but it often all seems futile, as, despite the outcry of millions, the wealth inequality divide grows, the planet suffers, and the future becomes more and more uncertain.

Why, then, should we bother? The amount of mental resilience needed to be a net positive to this planet, to this world… it seems a foolish errand. We watch as those with little to no concern for the consequences of their actions reap what the good and noble sow. To consume, it seems, is human. Perhaps this is our destiny. To fight a battle that cannot be won, and eventually, to lose.

However… unlike the millions of stars in our universe that form, burn, and explode into a brilliant nebula, we humans are here, now, and we bear witness as this world goes up in smoke. We feel, we suffer, and we understand one another. Even if this world will never be the same, we cannot let it corrupt us. You and I, reader, may not be able to fix this planet, or persuade the people on it to take action, but what we can do is resist.

We can resist the urges manufactured into our brains by marketing campaigns and subliminal messaging. We can resist the societal norms that we are ideologically opposed to and carve out our own approach to life, one that isn’t tied to material goods or meeting societal expectations. We can encourage and inspire, even if we cannot force people to make better choices. We can heal, if not one another, then ourselves, as the brigade of the corporate elite on our metal facilities will never cease. It will always hurt. It will always be an uphill battle.

…But if you are doing it purely because it is what you think is right, nothing, and I mean nothing is futile.