Motivational speech!

In any era that has a historical record, there is ample evidence that tons of people criticized their own times, their own cultures and customs, their institutions, and the people themselves.

Did most of the changes people would have liked to see happen overnight, or even in a lifetime? No.

But if a person of the past could skip ahead to today, they might be pleased to see that a lot HAS changed. They might also be disappointed that in spite of some of the changes, some of the same old shit still exists. But the point is, change does happen.

Not everyone is equipped to self-examine and to ponder the state of the human race and consider those large questions concerning such abstract questions as the ones you ask, Stahn, and the questions that other thinkers here at GC or all over the world are asking. There are some people who will tend to be followers, who won't question and challenge. Therefore it is the responsibility of those of us who DO ask these questions to not just stand idly by while Entropy does its hideous work. We must seek the ways in which we CAN try to effect change for the better in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

I'm not a religious guy and I don't subscribe to various aspects of Christianity, but consider Jesus' example. He could have easily looked at the masses, the "sheep" per se, and deemed them hopeless. But he didn't, and look now - there are millions of people across the globe who follow, or at least purport to follow his teachings.

Similarly, we can have faith in the power of humans to act right and to do right, and to advocate and nurture this. It's tough, because it's a constant uphill battle. The natural way of things is chaos. We humans can fight chaos (perhaps under the belief we are guided by higher powers, or perhaps out of a belief we control our own destinies - either way, works the same).

So - let's go out there and be champions of truth, justice, reason, and whatever other noble sounding things you've got. Neither side's ever going to win or lose, but we can tilt the scales in our favor, and that's enough to make it all worthwhile.