What will it take?

Today I am having a hard time being optimistic about our species and its ability to rise to the many challenges it faces. Partly because of yet another senseless act of savage gun violence. But it's bigger than that. I truly wonder what it will take for the human race to look itself in the mirror, accept that it's made many bad decisions, and start making better ones. For the sake of future generations. For the sake of our world. For example:

There is overwhelming evidence that more guns and less gun regulations lead to more gun violence. It's a well documented fact. Yet every time we witness yet another barbaric act of gun violence, there are plenty of passionate people who insist guns aren't the problem, and some even claim more guns are the answer.

There is overwhelming evidence that deregulation of industries leads to better outcomes for a few people and much worse outcomes for everyone else. Yet half of Congress still argues that less regulation is what we need to achieve prosperity.

There is overwhelming evidence that trickle down economics have never worked, except to make a very small minority of rich people much richer, and everyone else poorer and less financially secure. Yet many on Capitol Hill are still speaking with confidence that this is what this country needs.

There is overwhelming evidence that we now have a food system that is killing us. Heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and many other ailments are directly linked to the way we feed ourselves and what we allow corporations to put in our food and drinks. National mourning follows when an act of public violence takes innocent lives, yet hundreds of thousands of people are being killed by their food every year with hardly any outrage.

There is overwhelming evidence that our energy and industrial systems are rapidly warming our planet and destabilizing our climate, leading to certain catastrophic outcomes especially for the most disadvantaged people on this planet. Yet we fail to act.

What will it take? Why is it that we've been conditioned to be more afraid of things that are very unlikely to happen to us (like shark attacks or snake bites or plane crashes) than to take proven steps to prevent things that are very likely to happen to us (like cancer, climate change, etc...)? It's beyond comprehension for the left-brain thinker that I am.

Some of the problems we face will not all easily be solved. But they will certainly not be solved if we can't even accept them as problems and accept that we need to work on solutions.