London—I’m writing from the room of a hotel adjacent to Terminal 4 of Heathrow, the UK’s biggest, busiest, messiest airport. It’s been an awful, enormously frustrating day. And a sad one too. This is because ever since I arrived at 7.15 a.m. this morning, I’ve witnessed a world-class display of incivility, rudeness and disrespect. Of pure, unbridled selfishness.

Watching all of this, it’s evident: Mankind in its current state is unsustainable.

These days, anyone traveling overseas is told to arrive at the airport three hours early. This is so we can circumnavigate the maze of alleyways, and pass through one, two and sometimes three security checkpoints. This is a humiliating, insulting, classless experience. Jacket, belt, shoes—each must be removed and put on the conveyer for everyone to see. You’re also told to take out and display to the world your little baggies of toiletries, items many consider personal and private. Next, the poor bare-footed, pant-sagging passenger is made to enter a patronizingly large scanner, whereupon a snapshot is taken of every nook and curve and roll. Finally, any modicum of dignity that might remain after all this is squashed by the giant of a man who asks you to stand idle with your arms out as he runs his hands up and down your chest, torso and legs.

It’s a process utterly devoid of civility and respect.

When I arrived at the gate this morning everything seemed normal. Or at least “normal” for the 21st century, which includes freakily dressed, body-pierced Goths, blatant homosexuals, disengaged fathers, teenage girls caked in make-up and dressed like call girls, and of course, obnoxious, disobedient, disrespectful, out-of-control children. Fifty years ago, this would have constituted a nightmare. Today, it’s life at Gate 5, Terminal 4 of Heathrow and virtually every other airport in the Western world.

It was obvious that all was not well when we hadn’t boarded the plane by 9 a.m. Around 9.15 a.m., 15 minutes before the plane was due to take off, we were informed that due to mechanical issues the flight would be delayed 1½ hours. This is when it began. Initially, it was evident in the chorus of yelps, groans and complaints. But within a few minutes, a garrulous crowd of visibly frustrated passengers had begun to circle the check-in desk. One lady—we’ll call her Angela—was especially upset and marched up with steely determination to lambast the unfortunate airline officials. The airline gals handled her well, at first.

At 11 a.m., an announcement was made stating the plane would depart at 12 p.m. At 12 p.m., there was an announcement that the plane would depart at 1 p.m. Each time the flight was postponed, the tension rose. The moans and complaints got louder. The anger was palpable—manifested in red faces, raised voices, icy glares and a steady, audible gush of swearing (I don’t think I’ve ever heard more cuss words from women before in my life!). By early afternoon, one or two of the airline officials were reciprocating the rudeness and frustration of the passengers. It went on like this till 3.15 p.m., when we were informed that the flight had been cancelled.

This was the breaking point for many.

Rather than sit and wait for instructions, as we were asked, a long line of fuming passengers quickly formed. By now, Angela and her gang—situated somewhere near the back of the line—had gotten themselves into a frenzy. It wasn’t long before Angela snapped. She marched to the front of the line, nudged her way past other passengers, and let the airline have it. I was 50 yards away, and could hear her livid scream over the crowd noise: “Shame on you! Shame on you!”

One can understand Angela’s frustration. Really, there probably aren’t too many people, yours truly included, who wouldn’t have at least a measure of frustration or anger well up inside in such a situation. But it’s not the frustration or anger that mildly disturbed me. Rather, it was the total lack of control of these emotions. The scene at Gate 5, Terminal 4 today was largely devoid of respect, of civility, and of empathy and understanding.

But it was the underlying motivation that was most disturbing: pure selfishness.

This point really struck me while I was standing at carousel 5 waiting for my luggage. About 25 yards away, jammed in the middle of the tense, exasperated crowd, was a woman (we’ll call her Christy) with a large dual stroller with two children in it. One child was about 2, the other younger. Both were awake, obviously frightened, and bawling loudly. Poor Christy was a wreck. She couldn’t stray too far from her screaming children. Yet, unless she was prepared to elbow her way to the front, she wasn’t about to get her bags anytime soon.

I watched from afar for 10 minutes and not a single person offered to help Christy and her scared, screaming kids.

It was sad.

When it became obvious that no one was planning to help, I jostled my way over and helped load Christy’s luggage. From here, it was time to head outside and catch one of the prearranged buses to the hotel. This too was a scene utterly devoid of selflessness. There we were, a couple hundred people, bags and suitcases in tow, crammed onto a narrow sidewalk trying not to stumble in front of passing buses, taxis and cars. We waited 20 minutes. No buses. No one was guiding us, informing us, organizing us.

Then it started to rain.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, the first bus arrived. It was immediately obvious that there wasn’t enough room for at least two thirds of us. But that didn’t stop the entire crowd from bull-rushing the vehicle. It was at this moment that I caught sight of Bob. Bob was obviously the chaperone of some sort of high school trip to America. He was relatively young (mid to late 30s) and had eight or nine teenage boys in his group. A few decades ago, Bob and his entourage would have found their place in the queue and calmly remained in place till their time came. In fact, he probably would have encouraged his young cohorts to step aside and let the elderly board first, or better yet, he would have instructed the strong, mobile boys to assist with the loading of the luggage onto the bus.

Not 21st-century Bob. As the crowd hovered toward the bus, Bob noticed a space in front of an Indian couple with three children. He made his move with the speed and agility of a panther. Then, with his position established, he turned around and admonished his lads to hurry up and join him. It was almost unbelievable. It was raining. There were people scrambling everywhere. And this man was attempting to maneuver his entire entourage in front of families, the elderly, and everyone else in line! (Rest assured, Bob’s effort was thwarted when “someone” craftily placed a giant suitcase in the path of Bob’s lads.)

This may not sound all that bad. It’s true; there were no riots, no fist fights, and no full-scale mental or emotional breakdowns. Indeed, most of the passengers—although many were visibly frustrated and openly hostile toward the airline and its officials—kept to themselves. But that’s just it.

Virtually every individual was focused solely on self!

In all my hours perched beside the check-in desk, not one person expressed sympathy for the frazzled airline crew. Then again, the airline officials (with two exceptions), besides communicating poorly, were often cold and showed very little understanding of the plight of the passengers. When the flight was cancelled and we had to traipse all the way to baggage claim and go back through customs, it was like the running of the bulls: People were pushing, cutting, slamming. Christy and the kids were ignored, the elderly were abandoned. When we boarded the buses to the hotel in the pouring rain, strong, young men stood idly by and watched as the elderly, and women and children, struggled to drag their luggage onto the bus.

The scene was almost completely devoid of respect, of humility, of selflessness.

Maybe you think this isn’t a big deal. That selfish passengers at an airport terminal is insignificant compared to all the other crises we face: the political division and paralysis; the bank failures, growing unemployment lines, rising food prices and increasing threat of economic collapse; the social problems, divorce, fatherlessness, single-motherhood, rampant promiscuity; the class warfare and intensifying racial hatreds. But think about it.

If you trace each one of these issues back to its roots, you will see the same spirit of selfishness!

This is the central reason our governments and politics, our financial sectors and economies, our schools and universities, our marriages and families are falling apart. It’s because all these facets of society are comprised of millions of Angelas and Bobs! And if we’re honest, we all have too much Angela and Bob in us!

Herbert W. Armstrong described this way of thinking and living most simply: the way of get. He wrote: “There are only two ways, or attitudes, of life, broadly speaking: give, the way of love; and get, the way of vanity, selfishness, hostility, resentment.”

Read The Wonderful World Tomorrow to get a glimpse of how the philosophy of give will soon transform this world. At that time, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “People will start living God’s way—the way of outgoing concern for others—the way of the true values—the way of peace, of happiness, of well-being, of joy.”