What Do Trump, Climate Change and the War in Ukraine Have in Common?
At first glance, these look like unrelated issues—Trump, climate change and the war in Ukraine. But they all have a common origin: our collective immaturity.
We debate carbon emissions, Putin’s next move, and why Trump won the election.
Yet these discussions merely skim the surface.
To resolve our problems, we must dig beneath that surface—into the soil of our minds—and confront our immaturity.
What awaits us there?
Let me introduce you to 3 familiar characters.
Meet 3 Members of Our Immature Mind
Behind Trump, climate change, and the war in Ukraine, three familiar figures emerge: Uncle Greed, Brother Short-Sighted and Miss Wishful Thinking.
Uncle Greed
In Europe, Uncle Greed let oligarchs roam around freely, sprinkling their wealth on political parties, oil firms and football clubs. And all the while these oligarchs bolstered Russia’s coffers and enabled Putin’s wars.
In America, Uncle Greed ensures that billionaires exploiting workers are celebrated as role models. The same values keep millions busy running after money to spend on things they don’t need. Busy people have little time for those not able to run. “Sorry, can’t stop.” No wonder, a narcissistic idiot who doesn’t care about anyone but himself could win an election.
Uncle Greed also made us disregard climate change for decades. Why prioritise the planet when profits are at stake?
Brother Short-Sighted
Brother Short-Sighted is another key player in our immature minds. His mantra? “Live in the moment!”
Running out of water or drowning is not nice, but he brushes such thoughts off quickly.
And, yes, democracy and freedom of speech are fine things. However, they do not pay the bills, a new car or that all-inclusive holiday. Besides, people said Trump would destroy everything last time, but that did not happen, so why worry?
And the war in Ukraine? “Tragic, but why should it concern me?” Short-Sighted says while lighting another cigarette.
Miss Wishful Thinking
Then we have Miss Wishful Thinking.
Her standard remark is “It can’t be that bad.”
Climate change can’t be that bad. “New technology will fix it, surely.”
Putin can’t be that bad. “He only wants some space.”
And Trump? “He says he will fix everything—what more can you ask?”
These were only three members of our immature mind. If you dig deeper, you will find plenty more. We have, for instance, Groupthink and Confirmation Bias. They are close cousins who want us to nod and agree, while keeping any doubt or disturbing facts at bay. “Such nonsense!”
Dig Deeper. No, Deeper!
Don’t get me wrong, we need to deal with climate change, Trump, Putin and all the rest of our predicaments. But that is not enough if we do not at the same time confront our immaturity.
Why? Because we focus on symptoms rather than causes. We stay on the surface and attend to issues. But those issues are merely symptoms and results of our immaturity. It is like trying to save one bad harvest after the other while ignoring the contaminated soil.
Look at my lovely home-made drawing and perhaps you'll understand better what I mean.
If we don’t dig beneath “issues” and confront our immaturity, greed and selfishness will continue to dominate. We will keep electing leaders who tell us what we want to hear and rejecting those who tell us what we need to hear. We can carry on doing what we are brilliant at: to sweep aside troublesome thoughts about tomorrow.
Unless we do something about our collective immaturity, history will continue to repeat itself.
Can We Do Something About Our Immaturity?
Perhaps you think this is all good and true, but it is how humans are. Not much to do about our inflated egos and flawed brains. We will remain selfish and short-sighted. We will always believe that something “is not that bad,” or that someone will “fix it” for us.
I beg to differ.
We can do something about our immaturity. We can find ways to combat our flawed brains. We have the knowledge and can develop the tools necessary.
Read the next episode of “What to Do About Immaturity.” And I’ll give you my idea for one such tool.
Next episode: The Maturity Hearing (coming soon).
Thanks for reading. Be an adult.
