I guess I’m helpless, but the word presses uncomfortably against my true emotion.

I feel uncomfortable but I can rationalize that I am helpless. I have the energy, motivation, and resources to pursue some action. I have my health and can focus entirely on some goal or objective. I have experience to see it through. I have no clear direction to act but continue to analyze.

None of my feelings tell me I’m helpless. But the scale of the problems I want to help solve speaks loudly.

War. Politics. Anger. Fear. Disgust. Cruelty. Pity. Justification. Obstruction. Lies. Greed.

These are some words that describe the world I catch glimpses of outside the world I live each day. Perspective can shift and these problems can be all encompassing but that’s not quite right either. Let these problems overwhelm you and you’re only hurting yourself.

We live in a world where attention is everything. Streaming companies sell your eyeball minutes to the highest bidder and those with influence over your attention get the opportunities. My attention to the media surrounding a problem pays someone else. Someone I don’t have control over.

A news outlet. A corrupt government. A terrorist organization. An influencer. A bigot. A coward. A corporation. A warlord. Anyone.

You don’t win in popularism or politics. Everyone’s opinion gets boiled down to if you’re for or against us. And frankly that’s pretty dehumanizing. Leave yourself at the mercy of the majority and you are truly helpless. Their brand owns you and their marketing speaks through you.

I want to speak but have no one to hear. I want to act but am helpless to the scale of the situation. I want to feel but have no connection to the problems at hand. Humans aren’t built for this.

I don’t sit idle but it may look like I don’t act. I think and help others around me to follow. I encourage others to create safe spaces to discuss critically events otherwise shrouded in propaganda and political platitudes. After all, should these terrors unleash themselves closer to home we should know how to name them.

Universities should lead this effort as it is their purpose. Corporations should encourage discourse else their own challenges may never be discussed. Families should give the safety to hear difficult things and give each other safety to discuss the happenings of the world else more personal things may also remain unsaid. Humans must speak to one another to remain human and not descend into more animalistic urges.

I post this with a bit of hope. Without an opinion to point me into one camp or another. With a perspective of the feelings within me that I have shared with others. With faith that we can build a better world together.