Sometimes I feel like humanity keeps spinning in circles.
Even after centuries of experience, mistakes, and tragedy, we still fail to learn.
And each of us is part of what’s happening. Me included.

I’m not writing this as someone with answers, but as someone aware of her own limits.
I’ve made mistakes — sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of not knowing better.
But one thing I know for sure: people can change. We can evolve. Stop surviving and start truly living.

Not through perfection, but through awareness, humility, and intention.
And when we start talking — not as experts, but as human beings — maybe we’ll stop being so afraid.
Maybe we won’t need to scream anymore.

Why can’t we agree?

Why can’t we — as humanity — calmly and intelligently stand up to the evil we all see?
Why does retaliation come before conversation?
Why does violence come instead of reflection?

Maybe that’s why we each have to begin with ourselves.
Not just be angry — but show it can be different.
Thoughtful. Humane. Brave. Without weapons.

And connect with other reeds.
So that one day, we become the roof that can withstand any storm.

We build rockets, but forget the heart

We’ve created artificial intelligence.
We build rockets. We’ve landed on the moon. We hold quantum computers in our hands.
In the past 100 years, we’ve made more technological progress than in all previous eras combined.

But emotionally? As a species?

We repeat the same patterns:
Envy. Power. Violence. Manipulation. Again and again.

We teach machines to learn — but don’t teach ourselves how to be human.
We see evil — and still can’t agree on how to face it.

When silence isn’t enough

We don’t neglect the planet because we don’t know what to do.
We neglect it because power, money, and ridicule are louder than humility.
Silence is weak when no one listens.

The ones who warn us often scream. Desperately.
They glue themselves to roads, smear blood on paintings, block refineries.
We call them “crazy” instead of asking why they do it.

Because otherwise no one would notice.
Meanwhile, the planet burns.

And it’s not just about climate.
It’s about how we live together at all.

The world as a mirror

Many countries were once built on visions of freedom, equality, and new beginnings.
Places where you weren’t defined by where you came from, but by who you choose to be.
Lands of creativity. Independence. A new life.

People fled war, oppression, and poverty — believing they could start over.

But today?

Many places now reflect what we once ran from:
Division. Manipulation. Systems drowning in power and polarization.

The original visions — ethics, freedom, humanity — often get lost in systems that grew beyond themselves.

What if we helped?

How much would it really damage “the system” if people and nations helped each other uphold the basics of human dignity?

• Some parents have nothing to feed their children.
• Some have no place to live.
• Many kids can’t go to school — though some of them might have become the next Frida Kahlo, Mandela, Einstein.

(They were simply born somewhere else. That’s all.)

And on the other side of the world, people fly first-class to paradise. Just because they can.

And in between? The world loses its synergy.

What would change?

This wouldn’t weaken nations — it would strengthen humanity.
Competition could become collaboration.
From “What do I gain?” to “What can we create together?”

The problem is:

• People fear that giving means losing.
• The powerful fear that helping others grow means losing control.

Is another way possible?

Yes. There are people who:

• don’t seek power over others, but over themselves,
• see the world as a whole, not a marketplace,
• know that real strength lies in service, not domination.

But those people aren’t loud.
They’re not in debates. Not at summits.
They live quietly. They create. Teach. Heal. Raise children with respect.
And yet they carry what must remain.

The ethics of the mind

The human mind can be programmed to do anything.
But most people are raised on fear, performance, and ownership.
And yet we could raise minds on belonging, cooperation, reverence, and rhythm.

Nature as our conscience

Nature has long been speaking back.
The Earth has a fever.
It’s defending itself. Showing us we’ve crossed the line.

The Earth doesn’t need us.
We need the Earth.

And what about us?

Every region of the world has people who can reflect and live differently.
Not with force. But with how they live.

• Someone chooses integrity even when it’s inconvenient.
• Someone raises a child with kindness and respect.
• Someone builds a community based on listening and helping.
• Someone helps a vulnerable person — even if no one notices.

That’s not small.
It’s the most powerful thing we can do in times of chaos.

And laws?

For centuries, people wrote laws, constitutions, declarations.
Some even wrote visions of a world where every person has the right to freedom, dignity, and a voice.

But when law becomes a tool for power instead of ethics, it stops working.

Paper holds anything. Even unethical systems can be legal.
That’s why teaching kids just math and reading isn’t enough.

We need training in empathy, conscience, and courage.

Too idealistic?
Then imagine this course:

"Humanity 101 – no certificate, but with real consequences."

How many of Earth’s eight billion would enroll?
How many world leaders would sit in the front row and say:
“I don’t know how to live without power, wealth, or control.”

And yet – those are the three things we lack more than data, tech, or weapons.

A roof of reeds

Each person is like a reed.
Fragile. Vulnerable.

But when ten thousand reeds come together — people who live ethically, empathetically, bravely —
they become a roof.

A whole that shelters.

And no storm passes easily through that roof.
Not even the kind that falls from a world where it sometimes seems that evil is winning.

It isn’t winning.
It’s just louder.

© Tereza Sklovská | Different Worlds by Sklovská

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