Dangerous fellow passengers

In a way, everybody is an evader at one time or another in her/his lifetime.

When facing with some seemingly unsolvable problems, be it national/personal debt, global warming, natural resource exhaustion etc., it's a great relief to realize that you won't live forever, you'll be gone in 1[2,3,4...]0 years, and who cares what happens after that?

What drags most people back to reality, to face the music and to bite the bullet, is the deep care for their offspring. True, we will be gone, but our children (and theirs) will continue to live. No other ways, we have to think about the future and start doing what we can today to prevent a future disaster if we know it's coming.

But what if one is damn sure all of her/his loved ones will leave this planet for good all at the same time soon, does something trivial like giant national debt, huge personal debt, unwinnable war and deteriorating environment still matter?

When I was a kid, I often wish I would be in a different time/space after some mess I created by simply closing my eyes really tight, and all the unpleasant reality/responsibility would go away without trace.

They didn't. Not even once. That's how I learned the difference between reality and wishful thinking.

Apparently, some people have re-learned what they'd learned when they were young and now full heartedly believed the world, with all its ugly problems will go to hell soon, and they will be rescued just in time to avoid the pain and suffering without even slight inconvenience.

Of course, everyone is entitled to her/his own fantasy and self-delusion, even as an adult. The bad thing is their collective thinking have produced a serious irresponsible actions which greatly endanger the future of the world that we all share for a long time to come.

Imagine yourself sitting in a leaking boat in the middle of the ocean. If all passengers on the boat worked wholeheartedly together, the sinking could be slowed and the boat would eventually reach to safety. But what if one third of your fellow passengers believe they (and only them) would be rescued by helicopter at the next moment?

Are you doomed or not?