So you want to change the world

I meet a lot of people who want to make the world a better place. I must admit that I have at times aimed to do the same. I started thinking, though, what would a perfect world look like?

That’s not an easy question to answer. Take a detour with me if you will.

Let’s pretend for a moment that the world is perfect. What would they show on the news? Do you think that everyone would start espousing the joys of life? I suspect that we would still get to listen to journalists complain about something.

Would there be an absence of conflict? Conflict is the essence of life. The yin and the yang, summer and winter, night and day. Take away one and you take away the other. Without darkness there is no light. Without short there is no tall.

Would pain be eliminated? That’s called death. Is there was no pain we couldn’t feel pleasure. If we couldn’t hurt we couldn’t feel joy.

The more I ponder this the more I find it hard to see how a perfect world would be much different from the place we live. That doesn’t mean I like everything about our world, but who says you have to like everything?

Next time you get an itch to change the world, stop and think what exactly is wrong with the world just as it is. It probably won’t change your actions, but it may change your mind.