It’s easy to get down, to conclude that maybe we as a species are pretty worthless and doomed to failure. Any number of things can inspire such thoughts: some random examples being the existence of an oppressive North Korean regime, people in Africa hacking each other up with machetes, or bankers in the US ripping off hundreds of billions of dollars. Then there is the smaller stuff: isolated incidences of violence, hatred, or whatnot. It can make one pretty dejected.

But then you run across something like this video of a guy named Rodney Mullen skateboarding, and you have to conclude that no, we are not hopeless. No matter how much evil there is in the world there remain great people who focus on bettering themselves, on creation rather than destruction, and expression rather than oppression. These people accomplish fantastic and beautiful things. We are not animals, and that which separates us from animals is evident in this video. Rodney Mullen, I salute you.