Visions of a Better Future

Much of the world is currently at a crossroads. News has been bleak, with many media outlets focusing on tragedy and selling destructive spin. Depression and despondency seem to be spreading like plagues, while the actual pandemic has thrown a wrench in the works of countless supply and distribution channels.

In the United States, many businesses are finally feeling the effects of consistently low corporate wages, and employers are finding positions impossible to fill despite high unemployment rates. Other regions are feeling the effects in the form of specific shortages and other economic and political hurdles. Many people feel more uncertain than they ever have, and it feels almost as if a dark shroud is trying to close in over all of us.

Human suffering is nothing new. People have mistreated one another and enabled certain groups to go without since the beginning of known history—but despite countless historical uprisings, shifts in power and different types of plans for better ways, we’ve yet to discover our utopia. Is it futile to keep looking?

Finding a Happy Medium

A perfect society might never be achievable, but collectively we might find ways to improve the quality of life for as many people as possible. We all deserve happiness, every one of us, no matter where we were born or what we believe in. We all deserve opportunities to educate ourselves and find professions we enjoy. We deserve the time to hone our skills—and to temper our souls, so we can learn how to be kind, generous, productive human beings.

We’re all human, and we all (or at least most of us) want roughly the same things. We want stability; we want a place to call home, food in our stomachs and clothes on our backs. We want personal liberties, respect, the choice to move about freely and the ability to work toward better things. We want prospects for our children, opportunities and room for them to grow. We want reasonable workdays, reasonable pay and reasonable treatment from our employers as well as our political leaders.

We want to be happy.

A means must exist. I know the mere thought of it sounds idealist and naïve, but for every bit of darkness and evil out there, a ray of light must also exist. Maybe a perfect middle ground for everyone isn’t realistic, but humanity has experienced numerous great pushes toward enlightenment—so why not try for another one now?

Envision a world where nearly all people are able to realize their full potential. It might not be as far off as it seems. We have the potential to connect in ways we never would have imagined possible even a decade ago, and the connections are growing.

How, perhaps, might the virtual world overcome the obstacles that have held us back in the physical one?

Maybe the first step toward realizing a higher universal bar is connecting as many people as possible. And not in the way that social media has; I’m talking about connecting in positive ways. Solving problems. Improving lives. Bettering the world—and not just for a privileged few. What might happen if enough bright, compassionate minds came together to brainstorm over a brighter future?

You don’t need to believe in magic to believe in miracles.