I am rereading ‘Wings of Desire’ by Nos4a2no9, a Due South fan fic. Read this and immediately knew the answer:

“These children are beautiful, and he wonders what happens to make them
into the hard-faced adults who pass him on the street.”

Capitalism. That is the answer. The constant grubbing for more, more, more. The constant fight to survive with limited resources. Greed. All the things capitalism brings to humanity. I believe people were meant to be a community, each of us bringing something positive to the whole. Instead we have become an ‘every man for himself’ destructive people. Two or three people own almost all of the wealth in the US. Do they share? Do they use their billions to make the lives of other better? No. They hog every cent to themselves, because that is what capitalism says is the way. Maybe some day we will outgrow this madness, but i am not at all certain that we are going to survive long enough for that to happen. Right now we are deliberately destroying ourselves and our means of survival, which is the entire ecosystem of the planet. Here is a quote I find very apt right now.