If I ran the zoo

Let’s start this column on a positive note.

As a species, we continue to evolve. A perfect example is my buddy William Shatner, who spent many hours in space in a television series many years ago and, holy moly, just finished a real space mission sponsored by zillionaire Jeff Bezos.

I’ve spent many hours with Shatner and never saw him expressing the ecstasy he showed after a real space mission.

We’re starting to make some progress on combating climate change and we’ve been able to see a reversal of course in terms of saving Orca whales as an example. Every day I get into my hot tub and look out at the ships and islands in Puget Sound and I say “Thank you God!”

As for the entertainment business, in which I’ve spent most of my adult life, it is exploding because of technology and streaming. COVID-19 has made it very tough to go to a movie theatre, but at home we have so many options to choose from just by turning on our television sets.

But because of my background as a journalist, I can’t help but follow the news around the world and it is truly frightening. So bad that our government has been forced to collaborate with some truly evil forces in places like Afghanistan where the Taliban became the lesser of the evils.

In Haiti, American missionaries are being held captive by kidnappers in a country where such acts of violence are very common.

Throughout the world, there are so many places where people are starving and girls are being sexually abused starting at a very young age. The gap between rich and poor keeps expanding and democracy is definitely not the rise.

Gun violence continues to grow at an alarming rate in our own country. Rest areas have been closed on our I-5 corridor because of illegal disposal of trash and waste, vandalized buildings and verbal abuse and threats to our state employees. Airlines are being pressured to create less air pollution which means fewer flights at a much higher cost.

Facebook is a wonderful way to communicate with friends all over the world but has become a victim of scary manipulation and falsification.

OK, I started this column on a positive note and I want to try to steer it back in that direction.

I grew up the child of holocaust survivors and I’ve had a wonderful life. I am focusing on giving back by participating in the Director’s Guild of America mentorship program to make our industry more diverse and not just overwhelmed by white males.

I can’t change the world but I’m doing as much as I can to combat hunger and homelessness in Skagit and Whatcom Counties.

No single person can change the world, not even a Joe Biden or a Donald Trump, but we need to each do what we can to make America live up to it’s potential. A recent analysis of 195 countries ranks the U.S. 27th in the world in levels of healthcare and education, a significant decline from 1990 when we were ranked sixth.

We can do better. Much better.