How can we make the world a better place?

How can we make the world a better place?

How can we ever make it better? How can we fix what we have done to this world, to its people? How can we, you and I and regular human beings like us, just living our lives, actually make this world a better place?

War.

Famine.

Destruction.

Poverty.

Hatred.

Illness and disease.

Some living in riches while others suffer in poverty?

How can those of us whose lives are relatively good, without war, destruction or famine, be okay with so many of our fellow human beings living in poverty, dealing with the ravages of war every day, being subjected to the harshest of what life can give?

How can we, living in relative safety and security, be okay and just live our lives, worrying about trivial matters like what person x said about person y, about clothes, about make-up, about fashion, about which cars we drive, about brand-name clothing, about what others think of us and the like, while so many of our fellow human beings live in war-torn nations, deal with poverty every day, and live without hope of things realistically ever getting better?

How can those of us whose lives are not in danger every day, continue living our lives as if war, famine, disease, poverty and preventable diseases don't matter to us, when so many of our fellow human beings live with those destructive forces on a daily basis?

When the internet connects us, when the world has become so much smaller and more intimate due to literally being able to see into another person's living room through the internet, how can we still put another's suffering aside and claim that it isn't our problem, that it doesn't matter to us, and that as long as it doesn't impact us directly, we don't care, not really?

How can we continue to live in a world where in 'the west' we worry about trivial matters, while in other parts of the world, our fellow human beings are dying, suffering, fighting just to survive?

How is this just? How is this right?

If we want to make this world a better place, we need to think about more than just our own backyard. Yes, of course we need to make life better for those we care about, for the people we know and love. But what about everyone else? What about the people we don't see, don't hear from, don't know personally? Don't they also deserve to live good lives?

When will we realise that this world consists of more than those we know?

Because the only way to make our world truly better, is to make it better for all of us. We need to learn to care about more than just ourselves, more than just those we know and love. And yes, that's hard. Numbers, that's what they are to many. Statistics. So many died today, due to illnesses that in the west have been mostly eliminated. So many suffered today, due to wars being fought by regimes that dislike each other, when we, the privileged few, live in peace. So many were killed today, because those who killed them believed that they were not worthy, not good enough, or maybe just good enough to count as nothing more than statistics, as numbers, as cannon fodder?

When will we learn that we are one? 

When will we realise that what happens to the least of us, should matter to the mightiest and most powerful of us?

Caring about only ourselves and those we consider important to us... Yes, that is what keeps us alive, that is what keeps our family alive, is what keeps our tribe, our people alive. It is how humans have lived for thousands of years. Me first. Us first. I matter. We matter.

But when will we realise, that the world is bigger than 'me' and bigger than 'us'? This world, this world is ALL of us. All countries. All peoples. And the only way to truly make the world a better place for us, for you and for me, is to make it better for everyone, for all of humanity.. When will we finally realise?