Is it just me, or is the world a lot more messed up now than when we were kids?

That's the question I posed to a friend of mine last week over a couple of beers at happy hour. We were talking about graduation and discussing the number of reasons we wish we were kids again, one of which being that we didn't have to be concerned about any of the subjects I'm about to discuss.

Protest, rioting, and moments of chaos have defined the unfinished transition of Kosovo from United Nations protectorate to sovereign nation. In the days of its declaration of independence, thousands of Serbians have destroyed property and attacked several embassies, including the United States'.

The recent violence and upheaval occurring along with the new, hotly disputed independence of Kosovo is just the latest in a string of prominent political struggles and humanitarian crises.

The catastrophe in the Darfur region of Sudan is about to enter its sixth year and continues to gain recognition as "genocide" in the international community. Strange, but apparently some feel that targeting and killing hundreds of thousands of people based on ethnicity doesn't accurately reflect the word's definition: "the deliberate and systematic extermination of a religious, cultural, political, or racial group."

Neighboring Chad, which has provided shelter to about 400,000 refugees affected by the conflict in Darfur, recently withstood an attempted coup allegedly backed by the Sudanese government.

The humanitarian crisis in Burma (Myanmar) worsens after renewed pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 led to increased repression by the military junta that has controlled the nation for the last 46 years. Kenya is being ripped apart by political violence after being heralded as one of Africa's most stable and prosperous governments. The disputed elections of December 2007 have led to more than 1,000 deaths and 300,000 refuges.

The Iraq war wages on. Exiled Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated. Israel tightens its grip on a nine-month blockade of Gaza and increases its aggression as Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israeli populations.

As if international conflict isn't enough, in the United States we've got a social security system that needs more repair than the gas tank of a Ford Pinto, and there doesn't appear to be a mechanic anywhere in this election prepared to fix it. Health insurance is still a mess, and we're wasting our time arguing over the definition of marriage while kids continue to endure broken homes, families, and school systems.

In an age of abundance, when we destroy crops to keep prices high, we still see starvation on a global scale. And, oh yeah, there's that global warming thing. We learned all about that from Captain Planet when we were 7 years old, but it seems his message was just over the heads of our leaders and only now are they beginning to get the point (thanks to executive producer Al Gore).

I joke, but obviously the issues of our age are very serious. I don't think it's our collective imagination, folks. The world in which we live is ever more perilous and its dangers are all too real.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just reading the newspaper or watching CNN more than I used to. Or maybe it's always been this way and I've just become more aware. I hope so, but it's more likely that I'm right; the world has become a place infected with all sorts of violence and growing troubles that calls on us for their purging.

As college students, we are told that we're the future leaders of the world, and that world's present state leaves a large order to be filled. We're not kids anymore, and it will soon enough be on us to fill it.

I guess our blue superhero friend was right. The power - and responsibility - is ours.

Matt Carroll is a Heights staff columnist. He welcomes comments at mcarroll@bcheights.com.

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