Reading the paper every morning has long been one of my great pleasures in life, but it’s been increasingly difficult for me these days. There has always been bad news, but it seems to be especially bad now. Reading about all of these crises confounds me. Why is there so much violence and hate? Why aren’t people evolving? Quite frankly, it’s depressing. 

With today’s technology, we can get bad news from every corner of the world within the blink of an eye. What do we do with this information? Our feelings of powerlessness in these situations can be overwhelming. We can start to feel that the world is a horrible place and there’s no hope for  humanity.

Of course there’s always been violence, but I would hope that as old as the planet is, there would have been more growth by now — more people who realize that violence and weapons only breed more hate and fear, more people who have learned to live and let live, and fewer people who think that different viewpoints from their own are threats that must be eliminated.

I guess the good news is that much of the world has indeed evolved, and I’m fortunate enough that my little world is populated by people who are trying their best. Good people doing decent things just doesn’t make the news very often. 

We’re all learning as we go. Looking back, I can see my own still-evolving evolution: When I was young I saw things in black and white and I had pretty strong beliefs about the way things should be. My world was small and my opinions were mostly formed by what I heard at home and in my small group of like-minded friends and neighbors. When I moved away from home and started meeting different kinds of people with different lifestyles and beliefs, my black and white beliefs started to get a little color. Practicing yoga helped me to have more compassion and understanding of myself, and that opened up my ability to be more compassionate and understanding towards others. Traveling and meeting people who live entirely different lifestyles opened up my mind and heart even more. All of this exposure to people who are different from me made me less fearful as I realized that different is not a bad thing. 

I am lucky because I had the opportunity to work in diverse places, travel, and take yoga classes, and I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and talk with people who’ve come from all over the world and hear their stories, their struggles, and their joys. It strikes me that a lot of the people involved in the violent conflicts around the world haven’t had these opportunities. They likely have a strong belief system formed by what they’ve heard since birth and haven’t been able to sit down and talk to many people outside that belief system. Perhaps they have been taught to hate or fear others with different beliefs. Just realizing this helps me to feel compassion for them — it opens the door to understanding. Still, the world cannot be at peace when there are people devoted to violence. 

What can we do? I don’t know. This is a huge problem, too big for me to solve. But we do have some power that we can use. We can vote for wise leaders who have grown up and evolved and not vote for those who are petty and conflict-driven. We can seek out sources of good news to remind ourselves that there’s more going on in the world than crime and violence. Look around, and remind yourself of all the things you can be grateful for. And most importantly, we can resolve to be a good example wherever we go, whatever we do, and with whomever we talk to. We can be ambassadors of light. Listen to others and try to understand what it’s like to walk in their shoes. Be curious about their lives. Notice whenever resistance pops up and examine it. Show by example that trying to understand each other removes the fear and leads to compassion and cooperation. Operate from your highest self. As Rumi said, “Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place.” 

We may not be able to solve all of the world’s problems, but if we all shine our light on our own little piece of the planet, the planet will eventually be covered with more and more light. That’s something to work toward. That’s hope.