Do people really suck?

I wondered this after a night out with friends. We all have tales of disappointment, disgust, and confusion when it comes to others of the human race. We have our heroes and those we rally against, but are we rallying against them personally, or against the conditions that spawned them? When we see flaws and cracks in people, do we accept that as human nature or as a lack of reaching the highest capability we can? My personal belief is that people are born innocent, then twisted and distorted by society's failures that we come to think of as acceptable because they are common (I think that's from Se7en? John Doe had a point...).

When it comes to personal relationships, we may be looking for the elusive soul mate, but I think we realize as we age that such a person may not exist, and we should look for someone who loves us for who we are, imperfections and all. The human species, whether be it created by God or an amalgam of chaos, is not an infallible organism. We are prone to selfishness, greed, lust, violence, and most troublesome of all, a desire to fit in. We crave acceptance, no matter how corrupt the system or how unjust the conditions, because we fear being alone. One is indeed the loneliest number, and when we realize how much we need each other, we will begin to shed the antiquated concept of total independence. Look at any other animal society, and they work as a team: building a home, caring for the young, defending the colony, etc. This "dog eat dog" mentality that is still so prevalent today is a relic of our ancestry, when we had predators after us wanting us for dinner.

Nowadays, there is only one predator left, and it is ourselves. The next human evolution will not be a physical one, but a spiritual awakening. I wait for this awareness to spread, because when it does, we will have arrived truly...and will have realized our full potential.