Can human beings change who we are? That’s a good question, because from what we see in the news everyday, it seems like people don’t want to change, or to learn from mistakes of the past. I think that in some cases, our animal nature comes in, and makes it difficult to change. Evolution is a very influential thing, and is something that we can’t just ignore, as it was the mechanism that allowed us to survive for so long. So, if we could change, is change always beneficial?
I think that humanity can change, and I think that over time, humanity has come a long way. Just two centuries ago, we thought slavery was an acceptable way of life, but now, it would be a deplorable thing to think that we could force people to do our bidding for free.
Humans are very scared to go out on their own and make change where they feel they need to make changes. For example, we can all look back now and see that during the middle ages, the church was corrupt. The people of the time more likely than not knew this as well, yet nothing changed. The church controlled everything, and very few people had the means to step up, or the guts to do so. That is until one day Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis’s on the wall of the church, and the Protestant reformation was on.
Humans need a leader to invoke the change that we need on a massive scale. Every major event has involved one leader, and the rest of the people clinging to that person, and accepting what they do as correct, whether it is or not. The only problem is that we don’t always know why we support our leaders, or what they want to accomplish.
For example, Hilter was a very influential leader in Germany. Germany was suffering from a damaged economy due to war reparations, and Hitler rose up to say that he would bring them back to prominence. Unfortunately, his plan was to blame the Jews, and drive them out of Germany any way possible. More unfortunately, there was a percentage of the German population that merely wanted the money needed to live, and would go about improving their lives no matter who got hurt.
We as people can change, the real question is whether or not we can change for the better. We change all the time, and pop culture reflects that. Trends change all the time, and our attitudes toward events, people, places change constantly. However, pop culture is usually a following of meaningless events when it comes to the world at large. What jeans, or hair style people have won’t change the way people are living in Zimbabwe, nor do the people of Zimbabwe really care about the cool hair style in the US.
If we are going to change, we need a solid leader, who can channel the energy of real change, and make it seem cool to do so. Change is a combination of leadership, and the blessing of the masses to make the changes that humanity needs to make to ensure our future, and to make it better.
People can change, and we do all the time. Will we change for the better, or will we be forever striving for the Utopian world for which we dream?
