A pain this deep, one that has been building and accumulating for decades cannot be remedied from the top down. Politicians are overwhelmed by the diverse demands made by the public and compromise away any just, workable solutions. An overwhelming sense of hopelessness has flooded the political landscape. Business leaders are consumed by greed and the bottom line, and any acts of public spirit hide profit motives. And when they join forces with the government, the common person is swept under the carpet.

And those organizations that could work to heal this nation, the religious systems, only insist on further destruction. They speak of an predestined bleak future, one full of war and strife, dashing any hope of a bright future. Instead of addressing the social ills of the country, instead of healing the rifts between different groups, they add to it -- this group is acceptable, this one is not, this one is...but not in our pews and not married to our children. Instead of emulating the Healer, they quote rules and regulations from antiquated writings. They have lost compassion, understanding, forgiveness, humility -- all the qualities that made their God so great.

The world picture is no more promising. Canadians almost voted to split their union, and the former USSR and Africa have split into so many different countries based on ethnicity, that one wonders if different people are even capable of living with each other anymore. One may be tempted to say that this is just a religious problem, and that we will have another "great awakening" and we will all learn to live with each other in harmony. I truly doubt this, for, as you may discover as you read through some of these threads, I believe the religious establishments to be one of the main sources of division.

I am not trying to be a doom-sayer, but for every person who trades their idealism for a day-to-day routine, for every person who trades tolerance and love for a religious belief system, and for every person who sacrifices the well-being of his neighbor for his own selfish gain, our future becomes bleaker.

Our youngest adult generation, once the bastion of idealism and hope for a brighter future, is now Generation X. They will be the first generation in America to be worse off than their parents, but they will have to work twice as hard for fewer rewards. They are full of apathy and despair. So where is the impetus for improvement supposed to come from? Will it come from the older generations who have profited from the status quo and have the most to loose from it being changed? Will it come from the Baby Boomers who have had their idealism bashed out of them through unemployment, inflation, and government foul-ups (eg Watergate)? Will it come from one of the "developing countries" where war, famine and poor living conditions prevent few thoughts beyond survival?

I believe we are facing a social/economic/spiritual crisis in this world and I believe ALL of our institutions are to blame. Any economic system that promotes stepping on someone else to get ahead, or forces "management" to pay workers less or to continue polluting to maintain an acceptable profit level is flawed. Any governmental system that every two years has to polarize the electorate to attain political office or is more concerned about party line and power than representation is flawed. Any religious system that indirectly promotes hatred of individuals or causes its members to feel exclusive from and superior to those outside of it, is flawed. Any family system that reinforces inequality (eg against women who have to sacrifice personal fulfillment for the group), or that is kept together by social pressure (eg marriage) instead of love, is flawed.

Some of our institutions only need minor alterations, while others need to be completely reinvented.

As I indicated from the beginning, I don't believe we can just sit back and let those "at the top" try to fix our problems. Indeed, we have been observers for way too long. True change is going to have to come from the "grassroots" of society, from you and me. But, before any change can be made, we need direction.

Just as the "founding fathers" of the US (the "grassroots" of their society) spent months bickering over how the Constitution should be constructed, I believe that any grand scheme to REBUILD SOCIETY should be debated by the common man and the elite alike. You may think this a lofty goal for a single web-page hidden under layers of other pages, but any revolution begins with a few people.