The human dilemma

What a sad mess our world is in.

Every country has homeless, preventable illness, and hunger. Yet we throw away our work hours every day, which are our life hours, to pay taxes for things that should not be necessary. Sadly, a big part of every countries budget goes to military spending!

How many hours a week do we all go to work, worldwide? And then the governments use our tax money to make better killing weapons and pay for our armies on land and sea?

This is simply because we can't trust our 195 country neighbors. Why is this?

NATO countries are expected to contribute 2% of their Gross Domestic Product every year for their defense spending. Global military spending is over $2 trillion dollars a year.

What the heck?

Humans barely made it through the ice age. We had the bubonic plague wipe out a huge percentage of the European population, and even worse, approximately 70,000 years ago, during the Toba catastrophe (The Toba volcanic eruption is one of the largest known explosive eruptions in the Earth's history), homo sapiens population may have dropped to as low as between 1,000 and 10,000 individuals.

Yet despite our world-wide educational efforts we have learned little from our violent past, and still fight war after war. As an American, it is quite embarrassing to report that many of our wars weren't even successful. Just a disaster for all concerned (except those companies which sell and develop the deadly war toys).

Maybe humans have a "defective gene".

Human behavior is influenced by a wide range of factors, but the desire to kill others is too strong. People are capable of both cooperative and competitive behaviors, and we don't fully understand what pushes us internally to think and act as we do.

The decision to engage in warfare is complex.

War has been dominated by men, and research to why men are inclined to war (and women largely aren't) should be examined.

If men disappeared, would the women still continue making the world's war machines?

Regardless, if humankind could get their act together, we could put living areas on the moon, Mars, and maybe even the moons of Jupiter. There is a whole universe to explore.

Maybe the civilized societies of outer space will contact us if we run a sane society here?!

Maybe it's not the distance that keeps aliens away. They easily could tap into our news channels and also watch by telescopes the intentional explosions of our various and ongoing wars.

Maybe they consider us too dangerous and primitive to bother with.

On the good side, even if our current world leaders are rich, selfish, and arrogant, there are many ways the common people can make the world a better place.

It often starts with small actions that can have a big impact.

Some ideas:

1.) Being kind and compassionate to others.

2.) Volunteering or supporting charitable organizations.

3.) Being environmentally conscious.

4.) Educating and advocating for important causes.

5. Promoting equality and inclusivity.

6.) Spreading positivity and encouragement.

7.) Investing in education and healthcare.

8.) Building strong communities.

Making the world a better place is a collective effort, and every individual does have the power to contribute in meaningful ways.

Richard Baker

Dumaguete City