I tend to flirt with cynicism more easily these days and it takes an effort to wipe all the sarcasm out of pretty much anything I say. I observe silently reserving all judgment, but the occasional grunt can’t be suppressed.
I comment on many things, often out loud or at least under my breath, but people tend not to listen so no one ever notices. My comments are rarely kind in nature. I can’t seem to help the reactions people provoke in me.
Yes, I try to be kinder, which is so much harder than anything else. But I do want to live in a better world, or try to help make it a better world, so I have to start somewhere. Starting with myself is easier than with anyone or anything else.
I have no patience for what I consider to be stupidity. I am more intelligent than most people around me. I’m talking IQ plain and simple, because it is a valid way to “measure” intelligence and the average human IQ is 100. With about 80% of people scoring between 85 and 115. Fewer than 5% of the population are above 125.
Mind you, to get a good indication of what your IQ might be you’d have to take multiple tests over a period of time and ideally get tested every few years. You’ll end up getting an average that will give you an idea.
Also, IQs don’t tell you how smart you are, or how well you remember historic dates, how apt your are at learning languages or how good a mathematician you might be. That’s a different story entirely.
Intelligent people can be stupid as well or at least do stupid things. I sometimes wonder, if the application of common sense might not be more important than intelligence. Or maybe they go hand in hand.
On second thought, probably the latter.
I’m pretty sure that I have an awful lot of common sense and yes, I’m a little bit full of myself, but I try not to let it show too much. I know myself pretty darn well and I know what I can and can’t do.
None of that means that I am a fit to judge, but at least fit to have an opinion on the state of the world and as the header says, hope for the human race. Or maybe the lack thereof.
I find that people individually are a lot smarter than in a group. It’s one of the reasons why I cherish my solitude sometimes. Masses of people tend to be unbearably mindless. In other words: never try to convince more than one person at a time to do the right thing (not what you think is right, but what is commonly accepted as right).
When I hear about countries threatening one another with atom bombs, vaccine workers being shot in regions where they are needed most, six men raping a woman in India, who later dies of the injuries inflicted upon her, big oil companies drilling here, there and everywhere for nothing else than money, money, money, climate change being denied and the greenhouse effect blamed on volcanoes, or some undeniably insane person emptying semi-automatic weapons on school children, I have absolutely no hope for our future.
The news on TV, in the paper or my twitter feed are 90% bad.
Is it a surprise then that I throw my hands over my face and shake my head in disbelief? Why do we do these things to one another? Can anyone plausibly explain this to me?
But then I hear about V-Day and millions of people rising around the world on Valentine’s Day and standing and dancing together to end violence against women. Millions of them. I’ve seen countless videos and photos of this happening and it brings tears to my eyes.
I see actors and actresses trying to bring attention to global warming, melting of ice caps, animals threatened by extinction, again violence against women, or a billion people on this planet being affected by easily treated parasites or other conditions.
They raise their voices and support petitions and thanks to the age of social networking reach their fans directly, who will respond overwhelmingly, because they love, adore and respect those actors, actresses, musicians, writers and even politicians (some of which might even be celebrities).
We each and everyone have the choice to fight for something we believe in. Support a cause, fight against injustice or violence of any kind, peacefully. We can run along with a dozen different causes that jump in our way and do something here or there, or we pick one and dedicate some effort to it.
Being cynical and sarcastic and probably more intelligent than 95% of everyone around me doesn’t mean that I don’t have or don’t want to hope. More so, in fact. I want nothing more than to leave this world a better place. I want us to rid ourselves of at least three of the four riders of the apocalypse, because three of them are not inevitable.
We do have the resources. All we need is the will, desire, conviction to see this through.
I’ll try my best to do my bit, donate money to erase disease, dance against violence, recycle, sign petitions, limit my carbon footprint and remain outspoken.
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Don’t ever be silent or complacent, and never look away.
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