I'm increasingly sensing that there is a subset of people in our world who do not think about "who we, as a species, are" or what we're doing here. They side, they fight, and they destroy things such as freedoms to literal lives in the name of a faction or perceived unity, all from within their limited perspective and understanding of the greater whole.
There seems to also be a segment that likes to believe they have found, or have been given, "the one true answer" to the meaning of life and our collective and individual purpose. Yet they would never admit that they are not really sure, because doing so robs them of the comfort and structure that masks the relative futility and insignificance of their existence. Yet I think deep down they do recognize that, all the same.
Where I'm finding myself more and more is, regardless of any assumed or proselytized "how" and "why", all that matters in the grand scheme of things is that NOTHING really does, beyond what you leave behind for those who'll pick up where you left off.
The billions of people who'll never know you ever even existed will be dramatically impacted by the actions you do or do not take. And the consciousness you have as to the role you play as a single cell in the body of humanity.
This is not just about the environmental state of the planet or the political stance you take every four years. This is about the spirit, ideals, and intention of us all to either be the problem or to be the solution. To be the cancer that infects, spreads, and becomes an infectious disease, or to be the positive force that heals and strengthens us, so we might reach a potential that would be considered as utopian today as might the world we now live in have been inconceivable to the earliest thinking and reasoning instances of our population.
In all things, be they the manner in which we interact with others during our daily routine drive to work, or the language we use not just in front of children but to each other, or the choices we make as to what we consider "entertainment" with an awareness as to how it might numb our social awareness and sensitivity to brutal realities. The bar we set for our expectations as to the quality of character and integrity, I believe, contributes to what builds or destroys the humanity of being humans.
It is utterly mind-blowing how we focus our precious and infinitely limited energy and what we might contribute to the health or downfall of the potential our future holds.
If we could ever unite, devoid of partisanship, bigotry and biases, aware of our core connections as the most influential life-form on our planet, and as such, of all (known) time, putting the needs of the collective and it's future well ahead of our own inconsequential momentary self-motivated impulses, we'd likely set in motion a change so dramatic and monumental that it would be as evolutionary as was the first use of tools, harnessing of fire, and establishment of language and communication.
We're capable of so much more than what we allow ourselves to be distracted from by things so agonizingly inconsequential in every way compared to being a part of that initial forward step.
Utopian? No. Possible, just unrealized, unrecognized, and underemphasized.