Hindsight

There is plenty that we are exposed to in the "information" age to let us know just how much horror goes on in the world everyday. In addition, the media manages to send people into panic mode over every new development that effects humans, their behavior, the environment and our perceived ability to survive. Here is where hindsight can come in handy.

I love reading biographies and true stories, watch documentaries and true stories. They cease to remind me of two things:
How destructive, careless, irresponsible and downright evil people can be, and
That by and large people overcome tremendous adversity and if you go back even 100 years, there is overwhelming evidence that we have improved in the four negative traits listed above.

For me, there is encouragement in knowing what people lived through during the Great Depression, World War I and II; that at one point it was acceptable to treat "second class" citizens (slaves and women) like animals and worse, yet today we have largely overcome such horrific behavior - at the very least it is not accepted by the vast majority.

Hindsight tells us that people have managed to prevail through some rather unspeakable acts and that more often than not, the collective attitude becomes less tolerant of what I will label evil for lack of a better term.

Hopefully hindsight will help us develop even less tolerance for behaviors that are disrespectful, hateful and irresponsible. It still needs to improve in all areas, in how we treat each other, how we treat the earth (that which provides us life) and animals that inhabit and contribute to the cycle that allows us to continue to thrive.