How do you change the world?
March 22, 2017 1:55 PM Subscribe
Or more specifically, how does one person genuinely make a large(ish) difference? We are forever told that 'one individual can change the world', but how, exactly?
It seems, that as one person it is impossible to change the world on any sort of large scale, unless you are either incredibly wealthy, or in a position of immense power. Of which, I am neither.
Most of the world's really serious problems, (I'm thinking climate change, Middle East situation, eradication of poverty and diseases etc.) are simply not going to be solved by democratic governments, nor by wealthy corporations. These entities, which these days run most of the world, only tend to effect massive change when things get to a level so dire that they really have no other choice.
It also seems that on an individual level, there is only so much the average man in the street can do to change any of the world's problems that sorely need addressing. Sure, you can change your lightlbulbs, stop driving, change to local produce etc. give away a certain percentage of your money to charity, but all of this will be a drop in the ocean compared to what really needs to happen to effect massive change in the world. Although this could conceivably change the world to some extent if everyone altered their behaviour, attempts to change everyone to act more ethically have already been shown to fail on a large scale.
There is also only so much ethical living the average person can do before it starts to prevent them living their own life. You cannot give up driving if you live rurally, for example, you cannot afford to give more than a small percentage of your money if you wait tables for a living. You cannot afford to buy ethically produced clothes if you have a large family and are on a low wage. And no amount of ethical living or giving to charity is going to change situations such as the Middle East peace crisis.
On a depressing note, it just seems like the world's problems are only going to get worse unless democracies are taken over by benevolent dictatorships (highly unlikely) or if the corporate model is changed so that a company's sole focus is not just on making more money (equally unlikely). At the moment it seems as if the world can only really be changed by a top down approach, which no longer seems possible in the current climate. Of course, there are figures like Bill Gates out there, but not nearly enough.
However, I believe that there must be some way for an ordinary individual to make a massive difference? Surely? And not just as part of some huge collective effort? Otherwise the future of some of these issues looks incredibly bleak....
I'm not looking for answers such as the discovery of penicillin, or the work of the likes of Florence Nightingale, or how you can get involved in a homeless charity/volunteering etc. but a more sort of concrete answer as to how an ordinary individual can affect a large amount of change without having to first become incredibly powerful, wealthy, or stumble across an extraordinary discovery/bit of luck.
I am starting to suspect that there may not be an answer to this.
It seems, that as one person it is impossible to change the world on any sort of large scale, unless you are either incredibly wealthy, or in a position of immense power. Of which, I am neither.
Most of the world's really serious problems, (I'm thinking climate change, Middle East situation, eradication of poverty and diseases etc.) are simply not going to be solved by democratic governments, nor by wealthy corporations. These entities, which these days run most of the world, only tend to effect massive change when things get to a level so dire that they really have no other choice.
It also seems that on an individual level, there is only so much the average man in the street can do to change any of the world's problems that sorely need addressing. Sure, you can change your lightlbulbs, stop driving, change to local produce etc. give away a certain percentage of your money to charity, but all of this will be a drop in the ocean compared to what really needs to happen to effect massive change in the world. Although this could conceivably change the world to some extent if everyone altered their behaviour, attempts to change everyone to act more ethically have already been shown to fail on a large scale.
There is also only so much ethical living the average person can do before it starts to prevent them living their own life. You cannot give up driving if you live rurally, for example, you cannot afford to give more than a small percentage of your money if you wait tables for a living. You cannot afford to buy ethically produced clothes if you have a large family and are on a low wage. And no amount of ethical living or giving to charity is going to change situations such as the Middle East peace crisis.
On a depressing note, it just seems like the world's problems are only going to get worse unless democracies are taken over by benevolent dictatorships (highly unlikely) or if the corporate model is changed so that a company's sole focus is not just on making more money (equally unlikely). At the moment it seems as if the world can only really be changed by a top down approach, which no longer seems possible in the current climate. Of course, there are figures like Bill Gates out there, but not nearly enough.
However, I believe that there must be some way for an ordinary individual to make a massive difference? Surely? And not just as part of some huge collective effort? Otherwise the future of some of these issues looks incredibly bleak....
I'm not looking for answers such as the discovery of penicillin, or the work of the likes of Florence Nightingale, or how you can get involved in a homeless charity/volunteering etc. but a more sort of concrete answer as to how an ordinary individual can affect a large amount of change without having to first become incredibly powerful, wealthy, or stumble across an extraordinary discovery/bit of luck.
I am starting to suspect that there may not be an answer to this.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Heya, this is basically chatfilter, where you're setting up an impossible task, asking how people can make change but ruling out every way people can actually make change -- it sounds like you mainly want to talk about how these worries are very big, which is totally fair, but AskMe's not the place. -- LobsterMitten
« Older Best Floppy Heel Trail Running Shoe? | Help me identify an actor! Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.