I was intending to continue yesterday’s blog about the world population reaching seven billion with a general rant about the human race and its inability to look after the very place that sustains its existence. I declined, partly because I lost interest in writing a long entry, and also because I had a slight change of heart. You see, whilst I still hold the opinion that we are responsible for many of the problems we encounter, there is another side to the argument.

Humans, both individually and collectively, are capable of the most incredible things. We work tirelessly towards a better world, for ourselves, others, the environment and other species. There is doubtless much progress being made. The problem is that we do not get to hear about it.

Or rather, we DO get to hear about some of it, but it is overshadowed by the negativity that permeates all form of news reporting.

About four years ago I stopped taking notice of the news. I used to pick up a free newspaper on the way to work, and spent the whole journey on the underground reading about murders and other forms of violence, natural catastrophies, corrupt governments using their power for their own ends, rising unemployment and interest rates, recessions, depressions, invasions…, rarely an article that made me feel good.

Today on BBC news there is an article about what Britons think of their children (not their own: children in general). WIth the eye-catching headline, “Children behaving like animals, Barnado’s survey finds”, it seems that forty nine percent of the 2000+ people asked thought that children were “beginning to behave like animals”, beoming “feral”. In reply, Natasha Cripps, who commissioned the research, said:

So many young people do positive things but they’re not advertised because we live in a society where we do look at the negative side of things in every walk of life.

So it’s very easy to demonise young people and use them as a scapegoat for the social difficulties that we’re having right now.

Exactly, Natasha, exactly.

If I had untold wealth I would love to start up a newspaper that concentrated on the good things that are happening. With so much negativity out there, I think it’s about time that we gave ourselves a “good” kick up the arse. So come on, media people, give us encouragement. We don’t need it – our convictions are enough to fuel us – but it would make the journey to work for milllions of people around the world a more pleasant one.

As world population reached seven billion the other day (7,000,000,000), BBC news has worked out that I am the 3,515,596,868th to be born on this planet. That means that since the time of my birth the population of the world has doubled.

These figures are an estimate, of course. It cannot be possible to work out the real figure, even with the best census in the world, but I suppose someone, somewhere, has to make the claim, if only for entertainment porposes (Danica May Camacho, born in  The Philippines, will appreciate the estimate, one of a few children symbolically celebrating the honour of being number 7 billion).

The American Census Bureau, meanwhile, claims that we are 28 million shy of the given figure, and expects the real seven billion to be reached in March, next year – Danica will grow up hating the U.S.A. And then, The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, an Austrian group that studies world population, thinks that we might have to wait until 2014. No one listens to them, though, so we can safely discard their cry for recognition.

Whatever the real population is, it has brought just concern about the general state of the Earth. Some science guy was on TV, saying that we are still in a state of growth, for sure, but by 2100 the population will level off. Apparently, people will start to conceive two children at the end of the century. His reasoning was undoubtedly simplified to fit the two minute slot he was given, though I remain unconvinced that this will happen. Science guy vs pessimist? Who will win. Luckily for him, he has chosen a year well past his lifespan, so he is safe, whatever the outcome.

Today is the first day for a long time that I am without my usual medication. Today I am clean.

I was given anti-depressives for stress about two years ago. After a short course I stopped taking them, only for the stress and a few panic attacks to creep their way back into my life. After talking to the doctor about the problem, we decided that I should go back to taking medication. About a year later, I have slowly decreased the amount. Today I stopped completely.

It is difficult to know if I can live without pills, but I imagine things will be ok. My life situation has changed a bit since first dosing myself, for the better: The girls are older, and more self sufficient; I am happier and more confident at work: I have slightly different routines, ones that used to cause stress.

At worst, I know that the medicine I took works wonders. At worst I could always go back to taking it. I do not want to, and, with some confidence, I do not think I will need to.