There is perhaps no better way to quickly become depressed about the state of the world than to watch, read or listen to the news. Hour by hour, journalists the world over inform us just how bad things are, or seem to be. War, oppression, famine, disaster. It has ever been thus.
Viewed over the long term, however, there is much to be optimistic about. On even the crudest measures things really are getting better overall, regardless of how they might seem. Worldwide murder rates and violent crime, over time, are falling. Literacy rates and educational equality are rising. Wars are less frequent year-on-year. Generosity and philanthropy are more common. And so on.
Renowned linguist and psychologist Steven Pinker has written extensively on this topic, and sums up the common view among many people in developed countries thus:
‘It’s in the nature of progress that it erases its tracks, and its champions fixate on the remaining injustices and forget how far we have come.’
Pinker is no Pollyanna, nor does he pretend that everything is perfect – far from it. He simply implores us to see things as they really are.
Similarly to how we can lose sight of improvement across time, we can also become fixated on problems in terms of place, forgetting the bigger picture and only noticing our own immediate concerns. We can send impassioned emails or messages that we later realise were simply unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. We can become so incensed by a perceived slight against ourselves or a family member that we lose all consideration of context or others’ perspectives.
The semi-fictional Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm is perhaps the greatest example of someone who fixates on the utterly trivial and, in doing so, causes himself and his loved ones disaster after disaster. He refuses to consider that not everyone holds his standards of social etiquette, and will not countenance any reflection on his own actions. While this makes for excellent comedy, David is in the end a figure of tragedy.
It remains easy to focus on the worst, but doing so is a pointless task. After all, taking this approach to its ultimate logical extension would mean fixating on that fact that we are all going to die eventually. Few of us spend all day ruminating on that because we know that it will not get us anywhere. I am wondering whether we could all expand this awareness to some of the lesser problems that confront us and avoid ruminating on those as well.
In the Middle School, we are fortunate to work with many young people every day who are utterly optimistic in their outlook. This manifests in them taking risks – by participating in drama performances, trying out for leadership positions, volunteering their ideas aloud in the classroom and in myriad other ways. These are the students who set such a fine example for their peers and who make it easy for we teachers to remain optimistic about the state of the world despite what the news might tell us.
David Martin
Deputy Head of Middle School – Student Learning
