"That's just the way it is."

I can already envision the devil's advocate's comments that could be said about what I want to say regarding the above sentence. "The world is a miserable place", "We can't always be naive; living in a bubble and ignoring reality.", "Sometimes, there really is nothing that one can do.", "You have to pick and choose your fights, and sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.".

But why is it that seemingly more and more we quit before we hardly even try? We don't bother. We can't be bothered. There's no point. What's the use? Newspapers, online news, the radio news, advertisements, art, our friends, our family, the conversations we have are all telling us the same things: we don't trust our neighbours, we have to go to war, we're over-worked and under paid and losing our benefits, health care - continually the number one concern for Canadians - is dying, politicians lie and big business owns everything, nothing's made in Canada anymore or at least not owned by Canadians. We have ads we can't skip and are forced to watch on a DVD we've paid too much for, there's homeless who aren't going away, housing prices are too much - largely due to people who are too greedy, our population is exploding, but also not increasing fast enough to keep up with a society that demands an increasing population in order to keep up the demand for big profits, gas is running out, there are no good energy alternatives, the environment is bust, cancer is sweeping the nation, there isn't enough being done for all the elderly who are suffering in their old age, people are illiterate, people hold inovation back to make a buck, there's too much hatred in the world, people are starving in Africa, people are starving here in Canada, people are dying, everyone has nuclear weapons, so we have to stock up to defend ourselves against them, no one is being treated fairly in our own country, the too few doctors are too overworked, smog, spam, hate, rape, murder, violence, violence in the name of love (or religion), abuse, torture. You can't protest or complain - people have tried, and all you get is ignored, or the riot police in 10 times the number of few friends you were able to convince to be dragged along (not in that order). One person doesn't make a difference. There's so much evil in the world.

Is it so hard to want everyone to just get along? Maybe not to love them all, but to respect them and not treat them ill. To have a sustainable life, where there is no excess want and greed. Where you do the right thing, even if it takes more time, or effort, or goes out of your way a little. To not have such a self-important life to be able to take time out of your way and be able to do the right thing. To understand that "right" just means being polite, and helping others, and respecting others and the world we live on. To treat everyone as equals, and in turn be treated as an equal. To not give up when it is the right thing, to respectfully help others understand what you believe is right, to not be down trodden, to not have to feel fear or despair.

"That's just the way it is." To have the confidence not to give up so quickly, and believe in a humane Earth.