If this headline got your attention, it was purely by design. I believe that life isn’t inherently hard. It gets made that way.
Some of the causes are intentional, like the obsession with wealth and power. Some are perhaps unintentional or simply stupid, like bureaucracy and the fine print conceived by lawyers, which no one can understand (perhaps this falls into the intentional category).
One thing at the root of a number of problems we face today is the fact that many people and corporations are, in simple terms, selfish. They don’t think of others, just themselves.
A candy manufacturer sells sugar and makes huge profits. All well and good? Does this company have any responsibility for the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes? But why pick on candy when there is fast food, sodas loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and caffeine, let alone cigarettes and toxic plastics? Does making a profit absolve individuals or companies from responsibility?
It’s pretty well known that our elected representatives are beholden to lobbyists with the largest war chest of campaign contributions. This system brought us a healthcare crisis, an economic crisis, an education-system crisis, an energy crisis, an environmental crisis, and I’m sure I forgot a few. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not antigovernment; but either a lot of elected officials were looking the other way out of fear or ambition or there’s something in the air in our nation’s capital that acts to lower IQ.
Perhaps corporations should be rated not only by the amount of profit they make but also by the amount of good they do—maybe something like “green points” awarded for positive contributions to society, with points deducted for harmful activities. So, here’s a company that’s making good profits but they’re not producing anything; they’re simply speculating on oil and driving up the cost of energy. No green points there.
Here’s another company growing and distributing organic produce in an environmentally conscious way. Lots of green points there. You get the idea?
Of course that’s pretty simple, but isn’t it time for a change in criteria for judging individual, corporate and political conduct? If you think it’s going to come from Washington, think again. It’s going to come from people like us—or maybe just us. Our world is our responsibility, and if we don’t protect and defend the legacy we have as Americans, we’ll get—well, we’ll get what we’ve got now.
Publisher
loading...
loading...
