Our World Through Rose Colored Glasses

It's funny to me how we as people tend to look at our world and society and assume it is so great. The mentality is that we are the most "advanced" and the most "civilized" society. Our view (American/first world nations) of this comes not only from where we are, but who we are. We look at where we are compared to where we have come and assume that we are in a better situation now than in previous generations. It's an automatic assumption. It's a self-centered view. "This is my life, and my world, therefore it must be the best!"

Part of it is that our society has become so technologically advanced and we assume that that is a good thing. Our world is changing so fast that the previous generations get left behind. We change so fast that it creates division between one generation and the next. We are so isolated and separated from our past and where we have come from that all we tend to see is now and the future. As a result we blind ourselves to the problems of the present and our society.

I think that another key point to all of this is human nature. It is human nature that we focus on ourselves. We think that we are right and everyone else is wrong. Our world revolves around us, so our world must be the best. We were raised with our parents and society giving us what we want. The entertainment industry is focused on giving us what we want (or what they think we should want) and appealing to our selfish natures. So of course we tend to think that our world is the best.

How can we think otherwise when all we've been taught is self-focus and rejection of the past. I think it's time to start taking a look at life again; at our world again, not as the marketing department wants us to with the "consumer" world view, but with some real understanding.