The world is doomed, he says to me,
head in his hands, eyes filled with tears.
I used to think that people cared
about each other and themselves,
but I was wrong; there is no hope.
The world has gone to hell.
Poverty and homelessness,
starvation, crime, widespread disease.
Our deserts grow; our forests shrink.
Fresh air replaced with dust and smoke.
Depression, fear, anxiety,
addiction, all abound
while wars rage on; no end in sight
to conflicts born of power and greed.
The zealots and ideologues,
their influence just multiplies.
The victims, ordinary people
caught in politician’s games.
Not that we’re innocent of course.
Complicity bears many names:
selfishness; hate; ignorance;
our fear of unfamiliar things;
our love of ease, convenience,
and all the comforts wealth can buy.
Why think, when we can fall in line?
Why swim against a rising tide?
Far easier it is for us
to lay the blame on enemies
than try and find solutions in
such overwhelming odds.
No more cooperation now;
No more idealistic dreams.
There was a time when those served well
to give us hope, but times have changed.
And so, I’ll wait here in the dark
as chaos marches nigh.
At length I sit in silence, and
I feel the full weight of his words.
Their truths are undeniable;
their honesty self-evident;
their insight cannot be denied.
And yet, there’s more to say.
Perhaps you’re right, I say at last,
perhaps the world indeed is doomed.
What then, I ask, is that the end?
You’re planning to just sit and wait?
Well, yes, he says, what point is there
in doing anything else now?
You think that you’re the only one
who’s ever met such dire straits?
Please rest assured our history
is full of bleaker pictures still
than any that you’ve met so far,
albeit on some smaller scales.
And, would you choose despair where many
others chose to fight for good?
That’s different.
Is it?
Yes, they didn’t
know all that we do today.
They didn’t have our depth and breadth
of knowledge of the world.
Their hopes were built in ignorance;
my cynicism’s built on facts.
Is it a fact the world is doomed?
Do you know that without a doubt?
Have you not heard a word I’ve said?
The fact is no one cares.
Do you?
What?
Care.
Of course! But, now
I don’t think that’s enough, I guess.
I used to think it was, but now
I know how much I’m up against.
Now everywhere I turn I see
this sad truth reconfirmed.
That no one cares?
Yes.
Except you?
Well, yes, me and some others too.
Some others?
Yes, I didn’t mean
to say that I’m the only one.
Of course there must be others who
care deeply for our plight.
The point is that we are too late;
the cards are stacked against us now.
Too many forces work against
us ever finding peace and rest.
The game is over, and we’ve lost;
we may as well give up.
And, what about the rest, those who,
you say, don’t care about the world?
Well, what about them? What’s to say?
They’re everything that’s wrong with us,
self-righteous hypocrites whose
stubbornness will doom us all.
They’re ignorant and bigoted,
all self-absorbed and arrogant,
blind followers of fools and liars,
devout believers in false gods,
so lost in darkness now that they
care nothing for the world.
That last bit sounds familiar . . .
but what I meant to ask was this:
Just what about the rest? Are they
not capable of change and growth?
If they’re so lost, couldn’t we try
and bring them to the light?
You’d think so, wouldn’t you?, he laughs,
but no, I’ve tried that many times
– too many times, in fact. I’m done
with such naïve ambitions now.
I’ve learned my lesson: You can’t change
these crazy peoples’ minds.
Why not?
Because they’re too far gone.
They’ve closed themselves off from the truth,
devoid of all intelligence,
convinced of their own web of lies.
Won’t listen to a word unless
it’s what they want to hear.
Will you?
What?
Listen to a word
that isn’t what you want to hear?
Of course! But, I’m not one of them;
I have reason and common sense.
My views are built on solid ground;
it’s not I who needs change.
Believe me, I have done my best
to listen to the other side,
to see things from their point of view
and understand them on their terms.
But, that’s just made me more convinced
it isn’t worth the time.
And so, that’s it, I’m done. And yes,
I’m giving up on fixing this.
I’m giving up on pointless fights
and trying to change what can’t be changed.
The world is doomed, and I can’t save it.
Now, please leave me be.
Again I sit in silence and
consider all his arguments.
I can’t deny their coherence,
much less the sighted evidence,
no doubt from real experience.
And yet, there’s more to say.
I see, I say at last, I think
I understand your sadness now.
You’ve witnessed so much grief and loss,
all of this needless human cost,
and had so many failed attempts
to reach the other side.
Small wonder you’re now giving up
on those who’ve given up on you.
Each of us has only so much
to give until we reach our end,
and who am I to blame you if
you’ve reached yours here and now.
But, if you’ll grant me one brief chance,
I’d like to make the case to you
to look at things another way,
a changed perspective, something new.
To start with, just know I agree
with much of what you’ve said.
It’s true the world is full of strife,
from war to poverty to vice.
It’s true that often-times it seems
nobody cares to change such things.
We’re all caught up in our own lives;
our selfishness wins out.
It’s also true that rarely can
we seem to change anyone’s mind,
despite our strongest arguments,
despite a wealth of evidence.
Once someone has their mind made up,
their stubbornness wins out.
But, other truths there are as well
that in this hour of need may serve
to give us hope that all’s not lost,
that something can be remedied.
The first of these is simply this:
Not all is as it seems.
Although it seems that people never
change their minds for anything
and that our words fall on deaf ears,
outward appearance can deceive
and hide from us the true impact
our words may have in time.
For, words are like a seed which planted
in good soil, with time and care,
can grow into a mighty tree
that bears new fruit and multiplies
and causes transformations in
a person’s heart and mind.
Consider your own life. You’ve said
you’ll listen and you’ll change your mind.
Consider, though, what it would take
to bring about in you a change
of thought, of heart, of loyalty.
Great changes take much time.
Of course time isn’t all we need.
Sometimes the soil is not so good;
sometimes the seed that’s planted is
killed by some outside influence
before it’s had a chance to grow;
sometimes it’s squelched by lies.
What’s more, it’s not just any seed
that fares the same in any soil.
Our words must be conditioned to
the hearts and minds of those they find,
and hearts must be conditioned to
receive the words they hear.
What all this means for you and me
is, if we’d change another’s mind,
we first must know their heart and choose
our words to meet them where they are.
The first step, then, is listening,
without which we are lost.
And, if we listen well enough,
we might just come to realize
that some we’d thought were crazy fools
care just as much as we about
the world and all its many ills,
but from another view.
And, realizing this, we might
just find that we don’t know it all.
And, listening, we might just find
our own perspective change a bit.
We might just find it’s we ourselves
who’ve been in need of change.
Or, maybe not. I will admit
that sometimes if we listen well,
we’ll find exactly what we feared:
an unrelenting arrogance
upheld by willful ignorance;
some battles we can’t win.
So many are the forces that
can work against our best attempts
to stem the tide of chaos wrought
by ignorance, distrust, and pride
that progress seems impossible
and trying just too hard.
Remember, though, that no one said
the best path would be easiest,
or, if they did, they were mistaken;
you and I know better now.
The noble path is often hard;
this should be no surprise.
But, is it worth it? you might ask.
A valid question, certainly,
and one I am afraid we each
must answer for ourselves each day.
I’ll only tell you what I’ve found
and why my answer’s “yes.”
This brings me to the second truth
that gives hope in the brokenness.
While I can’t know if in the end
all of my efforts will succeed
or fail in doomed futility,
I know this much is true:
that if I choose to give up now
my choice is made with certainty;
I’ve chosen failure for myself,
abandoned all others to hell,
and by this act I have become
the very thing I hate.
But, what if failure’s all we have?
And, what if in the end you’re right:
the world is doomed no matter what?
In this case, you might want to say
it matters not whether we choose
to hope or to give up.
But, even in this saddest case
I’ll choose to hope and fight for good,
not for a victory of course,
not for a tangible reward,
but mostly because giving up
would leave me nothing more.
You see, that’s just what life is like.
There’s much we cannot know for sure;
there’s much that’s outside our control,
but what we can control is this:
to strive for good while we have breath.
That’s what it means to live.
That’s where you’re wrong about the past,
Those others who have gone before
have understood one truth you missed:
that any life worth living is
a struggle through adversity
whatever be the odds.
And so, although the going’s tough
– Especially because it’s so –
I have no choice but to go on
believing in humanity.
It isn’t time to give up now;
it’s time to double down.
With that I turn to walk away.
But, wait, where will you go?, he asks.
To fight!, I say, there’s much to do.
Perhaps the worst is yet to come,
but I find any challenge is
met better with a friend.
He rises up and wipes his eyes,
no longer kneeling, no more tears.
He steps beside me, looks ahead,
determination on his face.
We look to the horizon now.
Allright, he says, let’s go.