Moody Society: A Balancing Act

By Kri Sutah —

We live in an era where concepts and ideas that have been welcomed before are now shunned and opposed, and vice versa…Like when segregation and slavery was no biggie. Or when the idea of gay marriage was taboo, but now it’s more culturally accepted. Youngins used to have more respect for the older folks but now we allow the ranks to be easily broken, and we see things like World Elder Abuse Awareness Day having to be created. We used to love big bouffant hair but now we prefer it sleek and straight. Our society has become slightly manic, to say the least. We change minds impulsively and act with our stomachs, maybe our heart, then maybe, maybe our mind as a last resort.

When we act with our stomachs, arrogance and chesty attitudes seem to take over. Liberals attack conservatives as closed-minded and prudish even though the former might also be close-minded about anything conservative; conservatives attack liberals as too loose and compromising on morals when the conservatives show more cases of being outwardly polished but inwardly stained.

This society of ours has dramatically improved and progressed, like technology and communications, but then our moral convictions of right and wrong have become nebulous in the midst of the pure excitement of living carpe diem–getting a high from all things that give an adrenaline rush like the guttural thwack you might feel from a fast car ride during sudden take off. The go-go-go and the ooh-ahh-ohhs make us forget about the important questions in life that we nonchalantly dismiss or ignore when we’re on fast-forward mode.

Or maybe the issue is on the opposite spectrum–falling into long lapses of laziness with no care for a challenge or a lack of living intensely because the daily grind of work tires us out. Then we like to slump down on the couch and relax from a long day, swallowed up by the TV that does all the thinking for us. And the cycle starts all over again…until we decide to do something about it and live life with deep meaning and intention.