The Ugliness of the World

There is so much evil in this world today. I’m not saying that evil is a new thing. I’m just saying that now that I am older, I am able to empathize with what the rest of the world is going through. Coming from a small town in Alaska, we don’t see the ugliness that other countries do. We also don’t see as much crime as bigger cities in our state (Anchorage). The news gives us a glimpse, but the actual events of the world are too surreal.

We don’t fear for our lives and our children’s lives each and every day like the people in Syria and Africa. We don’t have to worry about our government attacking us with chemical weapons. Our children are safe.

In America, our fight is with drugs, murder, homelessness, disagreements between political parties, oil and suicide. People are killing one another over drugs. Why? People are taking their own lives while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Why? Is their life so horrible that they should selfishly take it from the ones they love? Why must we fight over oil and power? There are more important things in life… like loving one another.

I hurt for people living in countries where they are not free to be who they are. It is still unbelievable that there are places where people are beheaded for smoking a cigarette or killed for not covering their face. I ache for the starving people in North Korea and Africa. I pray for the countries that kill people just for being homosexual.

People in Sudan are being murdered, exterminated, raped, and tortured by their own government. In Uzbekistan, the president has been known for cruel torture techniques such as boiling political prisoners to death. Many Islamic states still practice lethal stoning and beheading in public. Can you imagine your child watching and growing up around this?

We complain about our educational system being subpar, yet millions of children across the globe are not even given the opportunity to go to school. We complain about having substandard healthcare when many people throughout the world die from having NO healthcare. We complain that we do not want to eat certain foods when people in other countries are starving to death. In North Korea, almost a million people die each year from starvation! 

Women, in many countries are suppressed. They cannot vote. They cannot wear clothes that they want. They must cover their faces. Some cannot drive cars. Women in the United States have it good. I can run for president of my native corporation or for POTUS… not that I want to, but I CAN!

In the United States, we are free. Men and women have the same rights. We can all vote. We can all work. We are all protected by the law and are not suppressed by the government. We have running water, electricity, heat, cars, technology, healthcare, and an inclusive educational system.

The things that I worry about are so trivial compared to what is going on in the world. While I worry about my outward appearance (weight gain, how my clothes fit, the length of my hair, etc), others worry about whether they will survive into the morning. When my water was down for two weeks, I complained that life was so hard. Many countries probably have never had running water. When the internet is slow, we start to freak out and don’t know what to do, when in countries like North Korea, they don’t even know that the internet exists.

Our people need a wake-up call. We need to be grateful for what we have and for the country we live in. We may not be perfect, but we fare better than the majority of the world.

With all the ugliness in the world, we need to focus on the beauty around us. We need to love one another. I look at my children and I see the beauty in life. When I go out in the country, I am reminded that God has created everything and has a plan for each and every one of us. This world is an ugly place, but we can make it beautiful by showing compassion towards one another. If you ever start thinking that your life is hard, remind yourself that someone, somewhere in this world wishes he/she were in your shoes instead.