There’s still time left to save the world, and it’s all up to you.
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There has never been a time in history better than now to be alive. Really.
If you live in the “First World” of industrialized nations, you can literally be homeless and sick, and be better off than 87% of the rest of the world.
Humans worldwide today are healthier, more educated, and living longer than 99% of humanity thus far. There are at least 100 billion souls buried in the Earth who never had it this good.
Humanity isn’t without its faults, however, and the Earth is far from fixed. So here are seven ways to save the world for the next seven-to-fourteen generations:
Fix Yourself—The old saying of “if you fix the man, you fix the world” still rings true. Chances are that there are several things you could be working on that you’re either avoiding or hoping will go away. You might be letting fear or pride blind you in daily decision-making. You might be living for the wrong principles. You might just need to listen more to your partner, friends, and children who need you. Whatever the case, it only takes one good man to make a positive difference for thousands of others. Be that one.
Save the Children—Corrupted adults who turn their backs on helping humanity had to have a start somewhere, and there are millions of neglected children who will grow up without the anchored, centered feelings that a grown person needs to see clearly. Everybody needs a chance in life—especially if that person is a child without a mentor, teacher, coach, or trusted adult.
Be Aware of the Corruption! —Even the “cleanest” and most moral of men become thieves, cheaters, and killers. Temptation is everywhere, and unless you are aware of your own nature, it will be hard to resist temptation and vice when the time comes. Be prepared, and prepare yourself to always make the right decision. This is extremely difficult and why the world is the way it is in the first place, right?
Learn How to Wait—Patience is the key element to succeeding at life, overcoming stress, and being at peace with who you are and who you are transitioning to become. If you learn how to wait your turn, or how to be patient with people who have never been treated with patience, you’re going to see a whole new side of life worth living.
Be Good and Good For Something—This may sound cliche, but we have set up the modern world to run on a system of exploitation and deceit, where we bet money and blood on the lowest common of human denominators. You may be good at something that isn’t a “good” at all, or part of a system that needs more good people like you to fix it from the inside out. Choose your mission carefully, and be the standard for goodness to those around you.
Run for Office—Yes, you. Run for something, no matter how small. Your town needs you to make a positive change and to steal daily life back from the crooks (who are everywhere). And don’t run because your ego needs a boost or because you think you may be “the one”—but run because if you don’t, someone with less of a conscience will, and we’ve all seen that play out a million times before, and since the dawn of time.
Be the Hero You Think Should Exist Where You Are—Regardless of your work in life, you need to realize that it takes a world of people to provide a better world for people. You may work tirelessly to fight injustice seven days a week, but you can be guaranteed that there is injustice somewhere happening all the time, and it’s not your fault. You can only do so much good. That’s why it’s important to start where you are, treating the people around you with goodness. That’s all you can do. You’re only one person, but you may be the first person in a long line of good people to continue the impossible task of saving the world.
So get going, ace! It all starts with you, today. There has never been anything different or truer or more daunting than the role of living daily life, and being good at it while being good for something good.
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Photo: KylaBorg/Flickr
Though I agree with the proposed outcome, the path is far too littered with debris to carry it off. Perhaps, rather then heft even more responsibility upon men, we should first care for the men themselves, fix the society that has so damaged them, help them regain the masculinity that has been shop-lifted from them leaving them in the stated we currently see them in, unable to help or save anyone or anything, even themselves. Perhaps we should cease trying to chisel them from their natural self, hefting them from box to box depending on the whims of society or… Read more »
Shouldn’t the title of this article be amended to: “How men AND WOMEN can save the world”?! No matter how capable or brave a superheroine is, she rarely gets the respect and adoration that their male counterparts do( just like women in real life- see Laura Bates’s “Everyday Sexism”, Simon and Schuster, 2015)!