The World and Human Society and My Life

I just wrote this. Pages says it has 926 words. I have not proofread, edited, or revised it. I don’t suffer, but many do. There are other people on this planet who don’t have the things they need, and that’s a serious problem. My mission is to fix that - that is my overall goal. Some would say that I should ignore the problem, and just go about my life in pursuit of my own personal gain. They say that the system will work if just given a chance. I say that’s not true because of laws and regulations, and because of the actions of criminals and multinational corporations that don’t care about anything other than profits. I also say that to leave poverty unattended also sows the seeds for extremism and terrorism, which affects me. I have to care, because I don’t want to be killed. Another reason I have to care is because if my goal is to have a lot of money, then my goal should also be a prosperous, sustainable world economy. That way I can make investments that will be hugely successful. So the starting point here is the fact that, all over the world, there are people who do not have enough food to eat. And they don’t own land, so they can’t grow their own food. And they never went to school, and they can’t get a job that pays for the things they need. So we have all these human beings all over the world who can’t get what they need. That’s a problem. Let’s step back and think about farmers for a second. What if we stripped the world economy down until every single person was a farmer, spending all day growing food for themselves to eat. Maybe have some extra food to sell. That would all be fine from a basic human survival perspective, assuming that there was enough land, equipment and water, and assuming that the farmers never get sick. Because the minute someone gets sick, it’s possible that a world-class 21-st century hospital is the only thing that can save them. So it’s impossible to even contemplate that most basic kind of society, because healthcare is arguably the most advanced thing that human beings do. We haven’t come close to mastering it. Let’s zoom back to today, and contemplate a person living in a city. This person has zero education, because there is no school. This person does not own land, so either they have some money to buy food, or food is given to them, or they go hungry. Or food is withheld from them, but we’ll ignore that criminal scenario. This person is also at risk because let’s assume that this person is homeless and doesn’t have anywhere to shower. Maybe they can get access to water, but we don’t know if we can trust the water because there are garment factories and electronics factories putting whatever they want into the rivers. And the garment factory owners have a big, powerful association because they represent most of this country’s economy and the politicians don’t want to sacrifice jobs in the name of safety. So now we’re getting to some of the big-picture topics. We’re getting to democracy versus dictatorship. We’re getting to the rule of law, and pollution, corruption, broken markets... So now we get to me. What do I want to do with my life? Well, I can become a lawyer and then fight for the underdog. Or for a powerful, multinational corporation. Or I can become a politician and still fight for the underdog or the tycoon. I can become a businessman and either do good or do harm. So the question is: what do I do? Which degrees do I get? And since college is expensive, should I just go ahead and take the most lucrative job I possibly can so that myself and my children and my grandchildren can all have access to good, healthy food, clean water, new clothes, a comfortable house, great schools, a college education, and high-quality healthcare for life? This also gets to the safety net. If every person is provided with a free college education, would that solve everything? What if a person does not want to go to college, even when it’s free? What if they’re not a good student? I think we can all agree that providing free college to every student in the world is a good idea for each person and for the whole economy. Providing free college to every student in the United States is good for each person and for the whole economy. Or have the government provide loans to every student at a rate of exactly 2%. I think that would be a no-brainer. So in that sense, I want to be a politician to enact common-sense reform such as this. And such as implementing higher fossil fuel taxes and a cap-and-trade system. That would protect the environment and give the wind and solar industries an opportunity to take over. But then there’s the problem of defective solar panels. And then we can ask: is climate change really so bad, as long as we give help to the people who are flooded out of their homes, whose homes are destroyed by storms, and whose crops are devastated by heat waves, droughts, and floods? And what can I, as one person, do about it, short of persuading a legislature to change the way the system works, or creating the world’s largest business that operates in every industry and makes the whole world a better place. My challenge stands.