We are all in hell.
We are all in hell, and there is no escape, not through our own power. Until this age passes away, there will be suffering, there will be pain, there will be evil. No matter how hard we try, there will always be some residue that we cannot eliminate, whether through sickness or simply the free choices that people make.
We are all in hell, but we are not all in the same hell. To borrow from Dante, we can think of the hell we are in as having multiple circles. Everyone is suffering, but not everyone is suffering to the same degree. Some of us are lucky enough to be on the edge – and some of us are unfortunate enough to be at the centre. Some communities average lies in the outermost rings, some in the innermost rings; but whatever the community, there is always spread, with members both closer and further from the centre.
We cannot escape hell. But, perhaps, we can move people to the outer edge. We cannot eliminate suffering, but we can minimise it.
And if we get everyone to the outer edge, or close to it, we can build a plausible utopia.
A plausible utopia is not perfect. It would not be plausible if it was. Perfection is an unattainable dream that anyone looking to build a plausible utopia must give up. Instead of seeking to transform the bricks you have so that you can build a perfect society, you must accept that they are imperfect and build in such a way that they cover for each others imperfections, and not put more stress on any of them than they can handle.
In a plausible utopia, there is still suffering. People still die, bullies still bully, accidents still happen and leave people disabled. People still use their freedom to make bad choices that put them in bad places. There are still arguments. We are broken creatures, and it is unavoidable that we will break things.
But we are also creatures created for repair work. If we can’t be slow to anger, then let us be quick to forgive. If we can’t stop harm, then let us make space for healing. If the storms must come, let us have our shelters built sturdy and our supplies well stocked. An ounce of prevention may be better than a pound of cure, but prevention is not, for the most part, an option we have.
Some, wearied and worn down and turned cynical by the world we live in, will call this a starry eyed pipe dream. No. A look at our history will show how far we have already come. Smallpox, bar a few samples held in (hopefully) secure laboratories, is consigned to memory. Polio is on the verge of joining it. In a great many, though sadly not all, countries, the death of a child is a rare tragedy, rather than something accepted as the cost of having children. Slavery has existed since the dawn of agriculture – now slavers are considered enemies of all humanity. From the perspective of even our recent past as a species these achievements would seem impossible dreams… but we achieved them.
We can’t fix the world. That is no excuse for not trying.