Just think about it for a minute. Think about movies and books you've read throughout your life. Think about "Back to the Future." Think about "Fahrenheit 451." Think about "The Hunger Games," and "The Giver," and the "Divergent" series. Although they just seemed like interesting novels or movies once, their messages are actually a little more intriguing. They're about future or parallel societies that are undesirable situations for mankind. What do all these books and films have in common? They're about us -- about people. They hold predictions based on our behavior about how the world could be. These authors and filmmakers imagined worlds in which our worst qualities were enhanced and took over the way we thought and acted and, ultimately, how our society interacted.

In "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury imagines a world in which creativity and imagination are discouraged and people are so lazy they do not realize their freedoms are being taken away. In "Back to the Future," 2015 is characterized by a distracted society more focused on technology and consumerism than family or basic values. "The Hunger Games" is a world where federalism overtakes democracy. The country is no longer ruled by its people, but by the President and the elites of society -- the Capital. "The Giver" features a society taken over by conformity and people blindly listening to their government because they don't know anything different. "Divergent" features a world where people are divided, physically and socially. Are these books/films just musings of people with creative imaginations or are they trying to warn us of something?

Well, let's take a moment to reflect. What is going on in our world today? You can't get on social media without seeing some reference to #blacklivesmatter, #alllivesmatter or #bluelivesmatter, etc. We stand divided on the most important issues. If we turn on the news, we hear reports of massacres -- people shooting others based on personal beliefs: senseless brutality. We are in the midst of an economy that is on the verge of turning socialist -- giving the government more control over how we live and how we make and spend money. We choose to ignore much of the hype because our lives have been protected by the decisions of generations before us, so we don't realize that there are real consequences in how we are choosing to live now. If our great, great grandparents or our founders were alive to see our world today, what would they think? Would they be proud to see how progressive we've become, or would our society be a nightmare come true?

Have we become the culmination of the fears of the greatest minds in history? And are we so blind to what's going on in the world, so distracted by our own struggles, that we cannot see the turmoil that our nation -- our society -- is in right now? Or can we see, but choose to respond with fear that reveals itself in hate and violence?

For years, we have experienced a moral decline in our society and our world. Our presidential candidates are proof of that fact. We no longer love our neighbor; we do not offer generosity. We offer envy, suspicion and contempt. We are more focused on our cell phones than the person standing beside us. We have lost all the values once held dearly by our forefathers. We are silently watching as our government quietly strips us away of our rights, demanding more control. We are letting ourselves become so distracted by others actions and attitudes that we do not see ourselves for who we really are. We are cowards, all of us, hiding behind computer screens and not acting on the values we preach on social media.

And we walk along, day by day, passively strolling with the culture, as if in a dream or floating along the current of a river -- never demanding a change of course. Will we continue to be bystanders in our own lives? Or will we actively fight to change the direction of our culture to a more moral society, a just society that knows the difference between right and wrong, a society that actively fights to defend what is right? We are the problem. We must be the change we want to see in this world. If we want society to be better, we must be better.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead