It is time

for us to take a step back from the mirror, if only long enough for us to glimpse the damage we have done. As a society, as a nation, as a culture, we are entirely too vain. We care not for others, not for the people we love, but only for ourselves. We live our lives looking out for number one. Science tells us that the world revolves around the sun and in return we shake our heads and click our tongues, we tell science that while the world may revolve around the sun, the universe revolves around us.
We take what we want, we leave no survivors. We strip trees bare of bark and mountains bare of trees. We fish until no fish are left and we wage war until the children's cries can be heard light-years away.
We beat the weary and we steal from the poor. We take food from the hands of beggars, forcing them to watch us eat. We tell ourselves that it is all for the best. We teach our children that we are doing what is right. We lie.
Quite regularly we shake our heads at stories of murderers on the news. We sit back and relax, wearing clothes which were produced by hands much smaller than our own. We tell ourselves that we are not murderers, that we are better than those who kill. We say that we would never stoop that low. But there is blood on our clothes. Blood shed by tiny laborers, underfed and under paid. Small children who work shifts that are illegal in our countries.
But it is time for us to take a step away from our own vanity. It is time for us to take a moment to tell ourselves that we are not the best. A moment to recognize that the world does not revolve around us.
We are not gods.
We are not infallible.
We have no right to force others to do our will.
We are human just like the rest of the world.
The only difference is that the rest of the world isn't living in a fairy tale. The rest of the world knows that they are human. The rest of the world is grateful for each minute of sleep, for each morsel of food, for each gentle touch and for each chance to learn.
Why are we, who have everything, so vainly ungrateful?