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No matter how bad things are right now, they can always get worse.
That sounds depressing, but, believe it or not, there’s also a seed of hope in it.
We look at expanding conflicts in the Middle East, eastern Europe, the Horn of Africa, and elsewhere – all filled with atrocities and all dragging in more and more countries – and we hear serious voices saying a third world war has already started.
We see authoritarians expanding their repression or threatening to take power in one country after another. We watch governments supposedly founded on democracy and human rights principles hijacked by powerful politicians attacking powerless refugees to stoke fear and then turn that fear into votes, regardless of the consequences of increasing hate.
And with immediate crises getting all the attention, other critical issues – things like climate change and growing inequality – get shoved to the back burner, where they are allowed to keep boiling over, spreading more suffering and, ultimately, driving more crises.
If you’re paying attention at all right now, you’re deeply worried about the state of the world. And if you’re at all honest with yourself, you’re even more concerned about what happens next. You know it could get even worse.
No one knows for sure what will unfold in the coming years, the coming months, the coming weeks, tomorrow. We can only say for sure what our guiding star out of this darkness should be: a firm dedication to universal human rights.
We must insist and keep insisting, louder and louder, that our governments respect individuals and their fundamental rights. Every individual, even the most powerless, especially the most powerless.
Sometimes it works, and we see some positive steps. Yes, more often it doesn’t, and abuses keep happening and sometimes get even worse or more widespread. But if we feel a sense of deepening disaster, that’s not a reason to give up; it’s a call to redouble our efforts.
Whatever happens next – whether things continue as bad as they are or get even worse – we know there’s one way to make things better.
