If we don't change from a world society that worships money and

Hear, O seekers of wisdom and keepers of the flame of life, the solemn words of Patch Adams, physician and healer of hearts: “If we don’t change from a world society that worships money and power to one that worships compassion and generosity, I think we’ll be extinct by mid-century. I don’t say that as an alarmist or as a pessimist.” These are not idle words, but a warning borne from the vision of a man who has walked among the sick, the broken, and the forgotten. In his voice we hear not despair, but urgency: a call to abandon idols of greed and turn to the true sanctuaries of love and care.

For the society of man has long lifted high the false gods of money and power. Kingdoms have risen upon conquest, fortunes amassed upon the suffering of the poor, and whole civilizations have been built on the backs of slaves and laborers. Yet every empire that worshiped wealth and domination above virtue has fallen into dust. Rome, once mighty, rotted within when corruption and greed consumed its soul. The great cities of the Maya and Mesopotamia, which sought dominion without balance, crumbled into ruin. History bears out Adams’ vision: the worship of gold and might leads not to eternal glory, but to self-destruction.

But he speaks also with hope: that there is another way. A society that turns instead to compassion and generosity becomes not weaker, but stronger. Consider the story of Florence Nightingale, who in the Crimean War rejected the indifference of generals and nursed the wounded with care. Her compassion saved lives where weapons had destroyed them, and her example transformed medicine itself. Or look to Mahatma Gandhi, who wielded not power in the worldly sense, but the power of the heart, and through his generosity of spirit awakened a people to freedom. These lives reveal the path Adams urges us toward: a civilization guided not by the hunger for domination, but by the practice of kindness.

And yet, Adams warns that the time is short. When he speaks of extinction, he does not mean only the death of bodies, but the death of spirit. A world driven by endless greed will burn its forests, poison its waters, and cast aside its weakest, until both nature and humanity collapse. We see shadows of this already: the seas rising, the earth heating, nations warring for resources, millions living in poverty while a few drown in excess. This is not prophecy but reality. Unless we turn to a new way, the mid-century may indeed bear witness to the unraveling of the human story.

But despair not, O listeners, for Adams does not speak as a pessimist. His voice is that of a healer, pointing not to doom but to cure. The cure lies in the rebirth of compassion as our highest value, in the elevation of generosity above greed. Imagine schools that teach kindness as much as arithmetic, governments that measure success not by wealth but by well-being, and communities where neighbors care for one another as kin. This is not fantasy, but the work of human hands, if only the will is found.

The lesson is plain: each of us must choose daily which god we worship. Do we bow to money and power, or do we bow to compassion and generosity? Do we measure our lives by what we possess, or by how deeply we give? For though Adams speaks of global society, it begins in the heart of every individual. A man who practices generosity teaches his children to do the same; a community built upon compassion becomes a fortress against despair; a nation that honors kindness becomes a light to the world.

Therefore, O children of tomorrow, take these words as your inheritance: abandon the worship of hollow idols, and turn instead to the eternal treasures of love and care. Sow compassion where you see cruelty. Offer generosity where you see greed. And know that in doing so, you not only preserve your own soul, but also ensure the survival of the human race. For only when compassion is enthroned as the law of society will mankind escape the shadow of extinction and rise into the light of a future worth living.