What a time to be alive!
In a time when parents no longer take responsibility for the education of their children.
A time when the children – those who will someday lead us into the future – are subjected to the cruel and inhumane punishment known as public school.
A place where the boring, limited, and inadequate lesson plans leave young scholars uninterested in learning and intellectual growth.
A place where those children who are blessed with strong spirits and who are full of passion are often reprimanded for their inability to sit and learn in such rigid settings.
A place that values the memorization of information over the learning and understanding of it.
What a time to be alive!
In a time when an infinitesimal portion of the population controls the vast majority of the world’s wealth.
A time when the majority of the population lives below the poverty line.
A time when many are completely reliant on government subsidies to survive, although that welfare rarely covers the expenses of basic necessities.
A time when the middle class is consumed in a cycle of barely keeping their heads above water, being considered too rich for financial aid but barely making enough to pay the bills.
A time when lawsuits are rampant, lawyers are the destroyers of the law, and justice has been twisted into a profit driven business.
A time when alcohol abuse amongst the masses is commonplace, serving as a popular escape from the grey clouds of life.
A time when the self-indulgent elite live for material accumulation and thrive off petty gossip during their elaborately wasteful dinner parties.
A time when breakfast and lunch are eaten on the go, or neglected all together, as the daily grind demands early mornings and busy lunch hours.
Our time is more valuable than our health.
What a time to be alive!
A time when economic factors are driving farmers off of the family farms they’ve worked for generations and into the crowded cities.
A time when those in power are forced to spend wastefully on unneeded construction projects to create low-skilled jobs in order to keep the flawed economic system above its breaking point.
A time when theoretically there is a chance for the upward mobility on the social and economic ladder, but in reality many children will earn less and live worse than their parents.
What a time to be alive!
A time when conservatives vilify and berate religions different to their own, and who campaign against sexual orientations different to their own.
A time when the dire economic status of many people pushes them towards religions that promise salvation and riches after their death, in exchange for absolute and radical servitude during their life.
A time when the equal status of women is a hot point of argument between religions.
A time when minorities are granted superficial rights, statuses, and titles but are never truly treated as equals.
A time when the act of marriage is openly mocked, and adultery is so rampant that many people believe that no one can be faithful.
What a time to be alive!
No, I’m not talking about today.
I’ve just described the daily life of Romans during the Antonine Dynasty, nearly 2000 years ago (138-193 AD).
Those social, educational, religious, and economic issues led to the collapse of Rome.
The world crumbled into 500 years of darkness.
But these issues all seem a little familiar, don’t they?
Of course they do, because they are the very same issues we struggle with today.
Are we really evolving as human beings?
Or is the path we’re walking one we’ve already walked before?
Luckily for us, we are not doomed to repeat our mistakes.
As a few warrior poets close to my heart once wrote:
There’s still time to change the road you’re on.” – Jimmy Page / Robert Plant, Stairway to Heaven.
Maybe it’s time we learn from history, rather than just repeat it.
Be good to each other,
– MG.
MICHAEL GIORGI 