Today’s World At A Glance: Where Has The Humanity Gone?

I’ll admit- I’m not the most experienced of people. In fact, I have most of my life left to live and most of the experiences a normal person has left to experience. But I believe in learning from other people’s success and their mistakes too. And what I’ve seen happening throughtout the world is not a sign of progress but digression into barbarism. For all our technological advance and scientific progress, as human beings, we are all, for the greater part, still living in the dark ages.

One day, a suicide bomber blows up himself and many other innocent in some screwed up religious or political fervor. The next day a politician is assasinated for personal satisfaction. A baseball player gets a contract for half a billion US dollars for playing with a ball and bat for an audience while millions starve everywhere. Children go hungry, have no parents as a result of HIV/Aids and poverty, have no education becuase a 8 year old is taking care of his 3 year old brother like a father would, have no or little shelter and clothing and spend all their childhood in nameless and countless fears from the world around them. Mothers loose 20 year old children to pointless wars and battles for black gold fields. People everywhere are more concerned with what they can get from others than what others suffer daily. The environment is getting ruined as a result of abuse by us all. Children are gifted guns by their fathers as a passage to manhood. Kindness and sympathy are seen as weaknesses and are exploited mercilessly. Love is a word to be scoffed at and ridiculed. Being married to 8 different people in a lifetime is seen as normal and to be expected. Cheating a business partner or cheating on a spouse are not uncommon or unusual. Death and destruction reign everywhere. Generations are growing up without knowing their own parents or knowing anything but the spectres of war.

If any one of us does recieve good news or safety from the world’s cruelty in the form of love and care from any other person, we are fearful to accept it. It seems way too good to be true. Only the most sheltered seem to escape being back-stabbed at some time in their life. If they are put out into the world, however, their innocence would be their greatest weakness. It truly has become a dog-eat-dog world. Politicians gain votes by showing up their competition and proving that they are less slimy than the others. Government officials depend on bribery to combat the growing inflation everywhere. The common people suffer through more and more injustice and pay more and more taxes in the hope that these injustices will decrease somehow. The miracle they hope for never arrives. The ‘revolutionaries’ that try to bring change only bring more unrest and destruction. No one cares to listen to, much less accept, another’s point of view.

This scary panorama of darkness and hellfire within the war-ridden countries is the world we reside in today. Throughout human history, there has been bloodshed and war. There have been countless unspeakable atrocities in the name of God, King or land. Yet, never has the world been in so much chaos as it is now. Every person is a victim and a criminal. Every person is a part of the system and is sick of it. There is no way only one person wanting change can make it happen, especially since many are very happy with the world works right now. They benifit from other’s grief and loss, so they are very comfortable with the present situation.

It is my naive hope, however, that generations to come will not have to live in a world so riddled with unrest and pain. I hope they will find a form of peace and happiness that mankind has not yet known. I hope that someday people will care more for the cries of widows, childless mothers, orphaned infants and starving populations than what Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan did. I pray that the children of the future will live in a world full of the colors of love, peace and harmony and never have to face the symphony of loss that is today’s world. 

Smiling Women- essay on american culture

            Smile, smile, smile, and smile some more! Show the world those pearly whites! Let them all see how perfectly happy and immune to all other human emotions you are. Just keep on smiling all day, no matter what comes your way. As a song by Louis Armstrong says, ‘When you’re smilin’….keep on smilin’
The whole world smiles with you
And when you’re laughin’….keep on laughin’
The sun comes shinin’ through’           

                 This seems to be the ideal behind the smiling women of American society today. I was forced to admit that smiling is not an expression of happiness for women in our society when Amy Cunningham imparted her observations and opinions on this social phenomenon in ‘Why Women Smile.’ A smile is now just a farce that is used to conceal true emotions, thoughts and opinions.            The way women embody societal conformity today is by making themselves thoroughly attractive and seeming unaffected by all of their problems. One way of doing this is by plastering beautiful, charming, friendly, resigned or forced smiles on their faces no matter what the occasion might be.            Women play a variety of roles in today’s world including that of mother, daughter, sister, professional athlete, CEO, business owner, doctor, pilot, teacher, sales clerk, and banker, to name a few. The smiling woman is becoming a more common phenomenon due the emergence of more ‘professional’ women. Despite the increased equality between genders, and the ‘equal opportunities’ provided to women today, they are still required to show only one emotion in workplaces or at home- real or feigned happiness.             ‘Smile when you want to scream, smile when you are having a bad day, smile when you are at work, smile when you get home, and smile when you are so tired all you want is a bath and sleep.’ Society has imprinted these thoughts into the hearts and brains of all women. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother telling me to, ‘Smile nicely at your auntie,’ ‘Smile for the camera,’ and, ‘You’re a big girl now; big girls don’t cry. Wipe those tears off your face. Smile.’

            Though this may not seem important, it grooms women to hide all emotions and thoughts behind their smiles. I remember feeling very upset about having to go to a family friend’s home where there would be a gathering of boring adults. I was just six and there were no other children there. All I felt like doing was wailing at the top of my lungs and begging my parents to take me somewhere fun. Instead, because the habit was ingrained in me by then, I smiled politely for the rest of the evening. Not once did I show anything but perfect satisfaction at being exactly where I was. I’m sure all of us have had to plaster on that polite smile numerous times throughout our lives.

            As a teenager experiencing all the angst of that time period, I recall many days when all I wanted to do was throw temper tantrums and cry about how unfair the world was. I wanted to wear nothing but black, I did not want to go anywhere ‘un-cool,’ and I did not want to associate with my ‘dumb and insane parents,’ who never understood anything. I realize now that I was insane one. My poor parents had to have patience with me all through this rebellious period. However, I did not lose the habit of smiling politely to hide my emotions even then.            On the other hand, I frequently laugh genuinely at funny jokes or occurrences and do sometimes smile from nothing but happiness. Receiving a sincere compliment, or watching my younger sister’s antics while she dances to music, are real reasons for joy or mirth. More often than not, though, the smile is nothing but a ‘default’ expression that I, like most women, use to deal with or greet those people that I am not on an informal basis with.

            More and more women smile not for the sake of pleasure, but for the sake of pleasing. Smiles have become nothing but a tool with which to handle everyday situations for women everywhere. The only way to change this is by using the same tool that instigated this societal change- the mass media. The media portrays women ‘as they should be.’ They should all be ‘beautiful’ according to a set standard, they should be professional, and they should never, ever stop smiling. To stop forcing women to smile, the representation of the ‘ideal woman’ in the media must be changed to make her human once again, instead of a smiling, perfect Betty Crocker-like robot or a Tyra Banks like goddess of beauty. Otherwise, women everywhere will continue to smile no matter what the reality may be.