If you could change one thing in the world

[missy]

Past, present or future what would it be? Not something personal (as there is already another thread for that) but something outside of your personal circle. What would it be?

 

[CJ2008]

No more animal cruelty.

 

[stracci2000]

No more wars.

 

[Cluless]

No more poverty everyone would at the least have a roof over their head and food in their tummy.

 

[Amber St. Clare]

No more hate and all the problems that stem from that emotion.

 

[Jambalaya]

Lower diamond prices and bigger cocktails.

ETA: Oh - that's two things! OK, scratch that - I'd give everyone a teddy bear rabbit! (See Scottish bunny thread.) If everyone had a gigantic cuddly teddy bear rabbit, there would be much less hate and less tension and more love in the world.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

End government corruption because if politicians weren't paid off, the CDC wasn't in bed with the FDA, and doctors weren't influenced by the pharmaceutical companies, we would all be better off.

 

[asscherisme]

I would prevent the holocaust from happening.

 

[Bonfire]

Eradicate cancer.

 

[arkieb1]

End world poverty and distribute wealth and global resources more evenly to everyone in the world

 

[Gypsy]

Raise the IQ rate of everyone 30 points and make a broad very intensive general educate program mandatory that stresses tolerance, individuality and self responsibility. As well at 2 years of civil service for all 16-18 year olds.


I think a lot of our problems are caused by the general populace being either stupid or uneducated so their leaders (in any form of government) take advantage of them.

 

[canuk-gal]

eradicate mental illness. With this gone, so many other (problems) issues would also be nonexistent.

 

[missy]

I love everyone's ideas. And they have given me more to think about.
At first when I wrote this thread I had different thoughts about this in my head.
One was for every animal to have a loving and safe home.

Another was for the Holocaust to have never happened. Firstly for obvious reasons of course and secondly because many brilliant scientists and mathematicians and others who were murdered could have come up with the cure for many horrible and as of now incurable diseases. Who knows what suffering could have been eradicated if the Holocaust had never happened? Who knows what they and their offspring could have done for this world? So many brilliant geniuses murdered in the Holocaust. Who knows how that altered our future?

But then I read your answers and I realized that perhaps if there was no hate in this world (thank you Amber St Clare) and we could have had that from day one all animals would have a loving home and the Holocaust and other egregious unforgivable genocides/holocaust/murders throughout the world would never have happened.

And of course it is all tied into all the other wishes in this thread. No more mental illness, no more world poverty, no more wars. And so on and so forth. Eradicating hate would be the answer to many of the world's ills. Only problem is I fear that is a wish that will never come true entirely. Human nature. I don't think we can ever change that much.

Remember the fable where the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across the river?

A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, they would both drown. Considering this, the frog agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks the scorpion why, the scorpion replies that it was in its nature to do so.

Perhaps one day we (human beings) can overcome our fundamentally hateful thoughts and behavior. I will continue dreaming it can be so one day.


Thank you all for your thought provoking responses.

 

[Jambalaya]

Interesting post, Missy. About human nature, it's easy to feel negatively about that. The frog and scorpion fable is quite chilling in its accuracy. I know some thoroughly nasty people - related to two of them! - and like the scorpion, it's in their nature to be like that. I honestly don't think they can help themselves, and I can tell you that they never question their own behavior. Then I see selfishness all around me, small and large. I know a huge number of people who are absolutely horrid to their parents, parents who love them so much and did everything for them; people who refuse to comfort a bereaved friend because they feel uncomfortable; everyone out for themselves, etc.

But it's very important to remember how many wonderful people there are in the world, too. It's so easy to let the horrid behavior of others get you down and color your worldview (not saying yours is, just saying it's easy for everyone to feel that way). After witnessing some bad behavior from my nasty relatives around Christmas, whom I find very depressing, I actually wrote a reminder to myself that I carry with me in my organizer. "Don't let others steal your joy. Never forget how many lovely people there are in the world."

I was with a dying person once who was a little out of it due to liver toxins, but she talked at length about all the beauty there is in the world, and what a fantastic place we live in. She died 48 hours later, and I will never forget those words from the perspective of someone who was shortly to leave.

It's not easy, but I honestly believe the only way to deal with the darker, selfish sides of human nature is to steadfastly ignore it and focus only on all the beauty and good in the world. It's not always easy to do that, of course.

 

[missy]

All excellent points Jambalaya. I agree. We cannot forget all the good in people and in this world.
However I always remember the wise saying about if we do nothing re the evil that exists all around us we are part of the problem. Something to that effect. On my phone now so it's more difficult to post.

Also I just saw a good movie on Netflix that reminded me of the experiments in the 60s/70s showing human nature. How so many of us are programmed to blindly follow authority. No matter how awful those actions are so many of us just do it when we are told to by so called authority figures. Chilling.

 

[Jambalaya]

I just meant not to dwell on the bad things emotionally, because it can really get you down. If I think too hard about some of my relatives, for example, and how unfair it is that others have nicer families, I could get really depressed. I didn't mean to ignore bad things in the world in terms of action and do nothing about them. I just meant how to innoculate yourself emotionally from letting the world get you down. I know the experiments you mean and they were indeed chilling. However, I prefer to believe that there are many exceptionally good people who would resist. Think of all the people who risked their lives as part of the Resistance in the war, and people who smuggled Jewish people out of Europe, or hid them and lied to the authorities even though they would face certain death if found out, and countless other acts of heroism that people undertook in the face of great evil. It's humbling.

 

[missy]

Jambalaya, I agree dwelling on negative emotion(s) is fruitless. Acknowledging reality however can only be helpful IMO. Remember "knowledge is power" and through knowledge and accepting reality we can begin to make the changes we all so badly want to and need to happen. It is our only hope in this world. Each one of us must be the beacon of change in small ways and eventually these small changes add up to a better tomorrow. Sorry if it sounds sappy. Writing quickly on the go via my phone so just writing as my thoughts occur without finesse.

For those of you not familiar with the Milgram experiments here's a link fyi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

65% of the people went through with administering (what they thought to be) very painful electric shocks just because they were told to by an "authority" figure. They were also told initially before the shocks began that they could leave at any time and stop of their own accord. But it didn't happen for a full 65% of the people involved. They continued administering what they thought were awfully painful shocks to strangers. Just because they were told to.

Just a quick snip.

Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority

 

[Jambalaya]

Jambalaya, I agree dwelling on negative emotion(s) is fruitless. Acknowledging reality however can only be helpful IMO. Remember "knowledge is power" and through knowledge and accepting reality we can begin to make the changes we all so badly want to and need to happen. It is our only hope in this world. Each one of us must be the beacon of change in small ways and eventually these small changes add up to a better tomorrow. Sorry if it sounds sappy. Writing quickly on the go via my phone so just writing as my thoughts occur without finesse.

For those of you not familiar with the Milgram experiments here's a link fyi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

65% of the people went through with administering (what they thought to be) very painful electric shocks just because they were told to by an "authority" figure. They were also told initially before the shocks began that they could leave at any time and stop of their own accord. But it didn't happen for a full 65% of the people involved. They continued administering what they thought were awfully painful shocks to strangers. Just because they were told to.

Just a quick snip.

Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority

I totally agree with the bolded. Absolutely.

In terms of some of the nasty people I know though, there's really no stopping them from being themselves and I don't believe they'll ever change. The best thing, I've found, is staying away from them. They are very soul-sucking and depressing. The best you can do with really awful individuals, in my experience, is model good behavior when near them and try to stay out of their way. If they were doing something awful to someone else of course, I would call them on it, but they're usually too smart to be obvious. I'm sure everyone has come across people like this and it's hard to know how to deal with them, without getting burned.