Making the World a Better Place
Life can be exhausting in every sense of the word—spiritually, emotionally and mentally. While we can usually pick ourselves up from a tough time, we sometimes might pause and think, “What’s the point?” If we try again, we might be disappointed, we might get hurt again and we might lose our positive perspective on life. That’s where our walls come in: we shut out people who try our patience, we drop our passions and settle for the easy road, we become cynical or satisfied with just getting by. But what if we want more? Is it worth the effort to keep trying, to work hard and hold on to hope?
It’s Not All Futile
There are days we might come home after long hours at work or study and turn on the television to see that it’s not much better anywhere else in the world. Often the media can direct us to see what is negative about the world, and in turn, we become more receptive to the negativity around us. While it is important to stay informed and aware about what needs fixing in the world, it’s also important to be aware that things are actually getting better.
Worldwide deaths in armed combat are the lowest they’ve been in the past 100 years, we’re being more eco-friendly with renewable energy sources producing 22% of the world’s electricity and life expectancy is at an all-time high.
While there are many things getting better worldwide, it’s also useful to reflect on our own life and think about what has improved over the years. What new opportunities do I have today that weren’t even in the picture several years back? Who have I developed a strong relationship with who I didn’t even know just a short time ago? How have I developed as person these past few years? While life has its challenges, of course, we often find that the tougher experiences have made us stronger and better off in the long run, and humanity as a whole seems to learn the same lessons.
It’s in Our Nature to Make Things Better
Things are slowly getting better and there’s a fundamental reason for it: we’re designed that way. In his autobiography, Father Moon writes: “The world of peace that is God’s desire is not someplace we go to after death. God wants this world, where we live now, to be the completely peaceful and happy world that He created in the beginning. God certainly did not send Adam and Eve into the world for them to suffer.” Father Moon taught that we were made by God to live in peace and harmony, and so it is inherent in our nature to push for things to be better.
It’s often commonplace among religious thinkers to assume that a better world exists in the afterlife, but Father Moon made it his mission to strive for world peace in our present reality. He believed that our physical world is a place where we can experience peace and harmony through a relationship with God.
It’s Not Naïve to Work towards a Better World
Steven Pinker once said: “We will never have a perfect world, but it’s not romantic or naïve to work toward a better one.” While things may not drastically improve within our lifetime, our work can often serve as a foundation for a better world for future generations. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t live to see an African American president, but without his work maybe we wouldn’t have either. We could argue that the same goes for many of life’s historical figures. Galileo’s theories were hardly accepted in his lifetime, but went on to serve as a catalyst for huge development in the field of physics. Van Gogh’s work went by almost forgotten after his death, and now is hung up in many museums and homes around the world.
Things aren’t perfect, and our efforts to make them so may not bear fruit right away, but while progress can come slowly, it’s important for us to never stop doing our bit to help create a better world.
What improvements do you hope to see in your lifetime? What could make the world better and what could you do to contribute to that? Let us know in the comments below!