Sick of Problems

I don't like hearing about problems. Today is Earth Day, which means yet another reminder that the Earth is doomed because of climate change. I helped a student with a paper about how the American Dream is dead or dying because of economic inequality. And I myself am working on a paper about how systemic racism is still a problem, and the best solution we have for it is affirmative action (which is really just more systemic racism). I'm kind of sick of this. The next time I hear about a problem, I hope it's in the context of working together to find solutions, because I'm sick of hearing about all the problems we have. And I haven't even mentioned gun violence, police brutality, prison overcrowding, immigration issues, the refugee crisis, the war in Ukraine, or the pandemic. We have way too many friggin' problems, and it would be really great if we could solve a few of them.

But maybe I shouldn't look at this as the glass being half-empty. It's not as bad as it could be. We readily recognize the problems we have, but we sometimes fail to recognize the problems we don't have. Life is going better than ever in a number of ways. It's just harder to see the good news through all of the problems the Earth has. But many of the problems that the Earth used to have don't exist anymore, at least not prevalently, and some of the problems I'm sick of now many someday be things of the past. Humanity has solved many of its past problems, and it will probably solve many of its current problems, too. I just need to be patient, do my part, and try to look forward to the day when we won't have quite so many problems to be sick of hearing about.