The World Today

I think the world is full of good and bad. I decided to ask friends, family and colleagues for their view of the world. The purpose of to get people thinking (if not already) and encourage people to step back for a second and take a look at our society, our country, our world.

I provided a small fact to get people thinking:

‘In the western world we now have a higher standard of living than humans have ever known before and yet, human misery is everywhere. The World Health Organisation estimates that depression is currently the fourth biggest, costliest and most debilitating disease in the world.’

This is how people responded:

Society today is driven by materialism, whereby people have become accustomed to accumulating objects they want but do not necessarily need, and then dispose of them quickly. This is mirrored in the way people communicate and have relationships with others; the sad thing about a society driven by over-consumption is that it translates into the disposal of people.

People are far too interested in selfish pursuits, which leads to a neglect of others. This neglect creates feelings of isolation and distance. This consumerist society has been embedded into the values and ideals for many of us.

- Amanda, 20

Money has become too important. We live in a world driven by money. The values of society were once about love, friendship and family. However, these values are no longer important, reflected by the endless bombardment of advertising and long hours. People are working way too much in pursuit of financial success and this is a major cause of misery in the western world.

- Anonymous, 48

I think the problem today is that we don't think the better of people as much as we should. We're so defensive, brought up (by society) to be suspicious of everyone, fend for yourself, lock your doors... how can we connect with people other than the very few we carefully let into our hearts? It's so sad. We blame each other about all our problems and all of the problems in the world because we think we have to... We can't accept that we're all alive at this moment, but we will cease to be one day. We all want to be happy, to be loved. We all feel guilty about people who suffer at our expense, but we choose to ignore it because it's less painful. I wish people would wake up >.<

- Karla, 21

Maybe so many people are miserable because society is moving very fast, and it’s hard to keep up. There’s more that we can do, more that we can have and higher expectations exist. We become self-absorbed to defeat the pressure, so it’s harder to care for others and to be cared for yourself. And it’s harder to know who you are and what you really want, because everything is so jumbled and loud. Many of us forget about the simple joys that make us smile and laugh, because we’re too busy looking for success. Notice how some times you’re walking in a crowd of people going to work, and everyone looks so serious and harassed? It’s like that’s contagious and we’re feeding off each other's stress without noticing.

- Melissa, 20

I'll make it blunt. I think we, the wealthiest, healthiest and longest lived people in the world, are so sad because our society is completely, utterly and totally undeniably about money and money alone. And we're not sad because we don't have it, but because we have defined 'success' in terms of wealth. We are pressured into pursuing career paths that are prestigious or worthwhile for their earning power (NB: Investment Bankers NEVER go home!). Don't most marriages fail because of money problems? And our politicians have only one word on their lips - economy. Most young people could never imagine being financially secure enough to own home. We devote almost as much news time to financial news as we do the news of the world. Our media is funded by advertisements telling us which dress is going to make us happy and which car will make us look cool. And we feel AWFUL if we can't afford it. Our lives revolve around the catchphrase 'when I win the lotto...' and we think winning it will equal happiness because we can then afford Manolo Blahniks, a 12ft yacht and a 6-month sojourn through the ritziest hotels in Europe...

- Lauren, 22

In today’s society a lot of young people tend to focus on more materialistic things. We complain that we don’t have the latest CD’s or the latest model car and compare with our friends to see what they have. It is like a competition to see who can get the best and expensive materialistic object and when we don’t get it, we get upset and annoyed over it. Do we ever stop and think that there are people in other countries who are struggling to survive because of lack of food and water, meanwhile we are complaining about not having the latest CD?

Sometimes we face small issues where we can dust our selves of and get up easily, but other times there are more serious issues that young people will need to use there support networks and ask for help from organizations such as beyond blue. Did you know that 1 in 5 people suffer from a mental health issue? It is not an uncommon thing!

- Sarah, 21

These are just a few responses I received. I agree with most of them.

I also asked a second question ‘How do you picture the world in 100 years time?’ – I’ve done that as a separate interview page. Didn’t want to make this too long.

Lastly, I asked a few people who had very negative views about action and what is stopping them from taking action – I’ll type that up soon.

What do you reckon? How would you describe the world it is today? (Looking for some optimistic views)