Children of Men

I know that just about everyone else decided to write about the MBTI test this week, but what I can't seem to get out of my head is Children of Men. It has been several days since we watched the movie, but I still keep replaying pieces of it in my head. For me, Children of Men is a great movie, but at the same time it is a serious warning to all of us. All of the politics and fears in the movie have their roots in our world today. The only difference between the reality of the movie and the world we live in is how extreme the politics and fears are. Children of Men shows how if we keep on this track of fear of others and extreme security concerns that one day we could end up losing all of our compassion and become the extremists we fear. Even though this was the second time I had seen the film, it still had a very sobering effect. For me, the movie is almost a prediction of our future if we all don't begin to wake up and stop reacting to the world solely based on fear. Today so many people are afraid of the world. Differences among people do not inspire curiosity and interest, but fear. We live in a world where so many of our actions are based on the idea of "us vs. them". The media dehumanizes those who are not understood or even simply different. This in turn creates a population that continues to become less compassionate and caring because of what they see in the media. Our culture in so many ways has become disconnected from reality. This reality is the one in which all humans have dignity and immeasurable value. People are losing their dignity and value everyday because of the way others are afraid and react accordingly. You could even say that we are lossing the compassion that makes us human because so many of our actions are fueled by fear. It's very scary to think that the key elements that changed the world in Children of Men exist today. It is very dangerous when we only begin to think in terms of "us vs. them". What happens if this continues and never stops? Will we end up in a world like in Children of Men, where we hate those who are different and kill them or deny them a better life? Is it possible that we really could close our borders completely and close ourselves off from the rest of the world? Would we allow the world to fall apart as long as we were safely tucked behind our walls? I really wonder if humans are capable of being so cold and losing all compassion. There are elements of this today, but hopefully it will never go to the extremes shown in Children of Men. Hopefully people will realize that the world should not be viewed in terms of "us vs. them", but that everyone is human.