Making the world a better place

[shkrobius]

I confess that I am not among those who want to make the world a better place. They are so concerned about bettering it, constantly talking about it: so much work ahead, so many improvements to make... A better world to whom? To themselves? Do they actually know what is going to happen to them in a very short while, what kind of a better world

Comments

[cema]

not making it a worse place, as happens to world-improving projects

I think this is the key.

[terrink]

None of my maternal relatives made it past 65, slain by the same cancer.
Разве не делает мир лучше работа, направленная на то, чтоб дети из таких семей перестали наследовать рак?

[shkrobius]

...and died of senility.

[terrink]

...30 years later.

[shkrobius]

...to experience all the shades of indifference and neglect? watch all of your friends to die? appreciate life? I do not need to wait so long for that.

[irrelative]

Well, what can I say? You are very lucky man.

[chaource]

Why this negativism? I think you would really like to see the world a better place, today and tomorrow. However, it is not clear how to achieve this. You can either resign -- and then you can of course accept any situation, even a very bad one, as "the best possible"; or you can try to work with other people on improving the world, contributing as you can; e.g. by trying to stop projects that ostensibly improve the world but, in your opinion, do not.

[shkrobius]

I wish I could, but this project called "progress" and "modernity" will roll on anyway and it will be carried to the end without asking for my opinion. Nobody wants to hear that the world is not being made a better place through their efforts. The strangest thing is that the older people keep telling you that it was better in their less advanced day; nobody listens to this annoyance. Then they all die and then there is no one left to tell whether it was better or worse. The place is getting better and better as the graveyard gets bigger and bigger.

[vdinets]

You live a privileged life, being part of a very small minority. If you lived in a favela in Brazil, tended to your goats in Sahel, or grew up on a garbage dump in Manila, your perspective would be a bit different.

[shkrobius]

Strangely enough it is exactly the privileged ones that are vocal about making the world a better place. The others seem to be more interested in finding a better place for themselves in this world.

[irrelative]

What is so strange about it?
When quake strikes you run, it is not a time to contemplate earthquake-proofing.

Besides... could it be that this is exactly the attitude that brought the privileged one to where they are?

[shkrobius]

You mean, loudly talking about making the world a better place? Of course it does. It has been invented for that.