It feels like those who know better should be those who do better. But the reality is that those who know better have no time or energy left to do better because they are so busy helping everyone (especially those who don't know) to feel better, and they spend a lot of time and effort arguing with those who think they know better.

Other distractions or barriers keeping those who know better from doing better:

• The desire to tell everybody they know better.
• Bureaucracy.
• Capitalism.
• They are politicians, not experts.
• They are experts, not politicians.

Funny, (not funny), how those last two things are so mutually exclusive.

On the one side we have politicians who have made action synonymous with reason by way of rhetoric, and on the other side we have politicians who have made divisiveness synonymous with morality by way of diatribe. And nothing gets done.

Arrogance vs. Anger. No one wins. The more arrogant the more angry and the more angry the more arrogant.

For the angry, expertise is synonymous with elitism. For the arrogant, resistance is synonymous with ignorance. Neither one is true. Both reactions are a product of upbringing and education. Education is not synonymous with formal education. Yet very specialized formal education is necessary for most areas of expertise. And today expertise is necessary for progress; and (I believe) for survival. Politicians today, arrogant and/or angry, are not acting as experts and are not acting on expertise. They are too busy with rhetoric and diatribe making their respective cases for reason and morality. The result: Dysfunction.

Reason and morality are both good and noble causes. But one has to look no further than within their self to understand why and how the mind and the gut (or heart) clash. Left to my own devices I would (more times than not) come down on the side of the gut. But today, to increase our odds for long-term meaningful survival, I believe we must prioritize reason. I believe we must (very, very soon) retire rhetoric and diatribe and act urgently on reasonable morality. Both reason and morality must be reflective of the realities of today, not yesterday or two generations ago. Largely due to technology and the increased world population, the reality today is much different than the reality of yesterday. We no longer have the luxury of again. We must act on now.

Yes, it would be more comfortable to simplify and forego change. But those who follow those and believe those who preach status quo and hearken back to again are directly threatening the future of Humanity. That said, those who follow those and believe those who practice the rhetoric of reason from the comfort of their privilege are marching in place. And though marching in place may be preferable to a return to the misremembered good old days, it will not save us.

So, a few are knowingly working to destroy the world for the sake of their power and comfort today. While some are thoughtfully working to save the world for future generations. And a majority are in the middle, either in the way of progress or working to stay out of the way of those working to save the world. And it is interesting to note that any effort spent working to get in the way of those working to destroy the world plays into their hand by further slowing progress.

At the end of my life I would like to say, “I helped to save Humanity.” But because I am caught in a web of political bureaucratic capitalism, and because I have no expertise, and because I am not a politician, and because what I write is pedestrian, and because no one reads me, I don't believe my efforts will have been significantly consequential. Still, at the end of my life I would rather say “I worked to save the world” than “I was in the way.”

**Footnote. Insight. How I am perceived. To those in the way of progress, I am arrogant. To those trying to stay out of the way of progress, I am angry. To those at either end, I am appreciated and/or ignored because I am not in their way.