Every day we hear of horrible events transpiring around the world from a sex scandal at Penn State to Chinese persecution, from home invasions and murders to human trafficking. Why does it seem that these events are becoming more and more common place in our society, more of an every day occurrence than a rare event? I feel that there are a number of reasons that this is occurring. First and perhaps most obvious is the Internet. In this day and age of instant communication, when something happens on the other side of the world, it only takes a few minutes for the world to find out about it. News is spread virally around the globe, bringing every world event essentially to our doorstep. We get the latest updates on protests in Syria and when an African country is on the verge of slipping into civil war, we know about it before it happens. It could be that the frequency of these events has not increased, but rather our knowledge and access to these events has increased. As simple an explanation as that is, and vitally important to the whole equation, I feel that it is only part of the equation. Another facet of this equation is that we now live in a world that is exponentially growing in population. It was reported recently that we reaching a total world population of over 7 billion. Each billion mark that is reached in terms of population happens sooner and sooner than the one before. With more and more people, the likelihood of these atrocious events occurring increases as well. Therefore, it could be that perhaps these events are only increasing in step with population increase. The more people there are in the world, the more likely it is that there will be more "bad apples" to rampage through society.
Keeping in step with population increase, I feel that there is another tangential cause for an increase in horrific events. That is that with more people, those that rule with an iron fist feel more threatened than they did previously. It is much harder to control a large population than it is a small one. As we have seen over the past year in the Arab spring, the power is in numbers. If enough people gather behind a common cause, they can literally overthrow dictators and despots who even 30 years ago might not have been overthrown as easily. This brings us back to the age of the Internet. While the Internet serves to disseminate news at a rapid pace, it also allows for ideas and philosophies to be spread like wildfire as well. Citizens of countries ruled by tyrants now have access to the world outside the borders of their country. In being able to see how others live more free lives than themselves, they are now more capable of formulating their own ideals, banding together, and fighting for their own freedoms. This free flow of ideas along with increased population is a death blow for many tyrants. Some will still manage to control every facet of life, but it is getting increasingly difficult as time passes. So what about events in the United States or other developed countries that aren't directly tied to overthrowing dictators? What about murders and child abuse and other atrocious events? Why does it seem like they are increasing in frequency as well? I think that part of it is tied into the Internet and increased population, but goes inevitably beyond that as well.
I believe that part of it also has to do with a decrease in spirituality amongst many people. While some religions may be increasing, many people have lost touch with their spirituality or with the religion they grew up with. As such, they turn inwards and try to run their lives off their own moral compass, which as it turns out, is not always the best thing to do. I feel that spirituality and ties to a religion are an important part in sustaining society. The less spirituality there is, the more likely we will see atrocious events occur. In part, I feel that as people lose touch with spirituality, they become more self-centered and as such do not take into account the full impact of their actions. By focusing on others, we see a much wider picture and I feel that spirituality helps us do this. While loss of spirituality is part of it, it is only part and not the entire answer. There are numerous factors to our witnessing an increase in these events whether it is a perceived increase or an actual increase. Regardless, what do we do about it? As individuals, the most we can do is impact those around us and hope that it spreads. If we impact those around us in a beneficial, positive way, then it will most likely transfer forward to others. If we negatively impact those around us, then negativity will be spread. I feel that it is really quite simple, but unless we pay attention to how we interact with others and strive to interact in the most positive way, then not much will happen. We live in a world now that is changing faster and faster. It is both exciting and frightening. Hopefully we can turn things around, reduce the amount of atrocious events, and move towards a more peaceful world. Only time will tell, but if just sit around and watch, we have no right to complain about anything. We must get up and act and attempt to change things for the better. The time is now, not tomorrow or the day after, but today.
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