It’s the End of the World as We Know It

Our future as a community depends on whether we can let go of toxic individualism

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” — Coretta Scott King

Something needs to change. There is something inherently broken in our contemporary society – especially in North America.

How we move forward from here will decide if we tear ourselves apart or if we continue to grow into the future. But what will it take to stop us from collapsing into a black hole of our own design?

Our future as a community depends on whether we can let go of toxic individualism. We stand on the precipice of utter and complete disaster.

If we continue on this path, we are guaranteed a world that doesn’t take care of the vulnerable or needy members of the community. Compassion and kindness are thrown out to make way for self-interest and egocentric thinking. It will be a Purge-style every-man-for-himself libertarian hellscape. Individual convenience and freedoms will take precedence over everything at the expense of those who need assistance.

It’s an ableist and ageist society that will let everyone who can’t “tough it out” fall through the cracks and ultimately suffer.

Imagine for a moment what that world will look like: the streets full of homeless, especially the elderly, because there are no shelters or programs to help seniors in need. Millions — or even billions — of people, including children, die of preventable diseases and illnesses because there is no public healthcare. Children go uneducated, public transportation halts completely, and so many social programs we take for granted would end.

If humanity's most selfish aspects continue to grow and fester in ways they have in the last decade, we will surely hit a breaking point.

What will it take before the people who think not wearing a mask or not following health protocols put in place to protect them from a deadly virus or not electing to get a vaccine to realize that they’re not thinking for themselves, they are thinking only about…