"I hope you get better"
This was said to me the other day when I had mentioned I wasn't feeling great. And while it is commonly said when people are ill, as I was falling to sleep I couldn't help thinking that this should be the default position. Of course, we might want people to get better when they are ill and get back to normal, but when they are at their normal, we should also want them to improve from there also. As far as I can reflect, I am a person who genuinely wants the best for people and even those who might have acted poorly, I don't wish them ill.
I wish them better.
What I mean is, that we are all products of our environment and condition, much of it we never had a chance to choose and a lot, largely out of our control. So, our behaviors are a byproduct of a wide range of factors that we might not even know influenced us. This means that it really is hard to blame people for their actions, but at the same time, I believe we should all take responsibility for them.
In terms of wishing them well, if someone has behaved poorly, if one could click fingers and choose a result, rather than punishment, wouldn't it be more useful to have them perform better - To add value, rather than cost resources?
That doesn't seem fair though, does it?
But, is it fair that resources are spent punishing people when those same resources could be used to empower others? In a perfect world, all resources would be going toward growth activities that improve human wellbeing, which would ultimately mean simultaneously looking after the environment in which we live, because that impacts and influences our wellbeing too.
For example in Finland, billions are being spent on "defense" due to the threat of Russia attacking. Whilst concurrently, there are growing austerity measures, shortages of medical staff, not enough teachers, need for infrastructure upgrades and a host of other things that there *isn't enough money for. The tradeoff for not increasing wellbeing of millions, is a handful of fighter jets.
Now, the argument is that there is no point in having wellbeing if a country is vulnerable to attack, but the interesting thing is that when people are doing well, there tends not to be war. And, there is very little point taking a country that doesn't have much in way of resources, other than the skills of educated people - because attacking them will mean the value of them is unlikely to be realized.
This is not and cannot be a perfect world though, and one of the reasons so many problems arise is because so many of us are ill, as we desire to maximize ourselves, at the expense of others. This sets up a constant competition that tends to drive a few to the top of a very high peak, but the majority struggling, getting sicker in pretty much every way imaginable. And this sickness manifests in ways that require far more punishment focus, than wellbeing activities.
Just look at the pharmaceutical industry, where there is far more emphasis on treatment, than preventative healthcare. Healthy people don't generate as much money as unhealthy people, nor does preventative medicine for the pharmaceutical companies. For society however, healthy people are far more productive and if our resources were able to be moved into other directions, who knows how far a society of healthy people looking at increasing wellbeing could advance us. Instead, the majority of our resources are spent on treating symptoms of societal diseases, rather than getting better as a society.
Hoping and wishing for better is useless, other than as an opportunity to realize that we want change of some sort - either for ourselves, others, or our world. Recognizing this then gives us some kind of direction in which to take next steps toward the future. But, the steps we take are going to be influenced by our past and current conditions, so if we are ill, we aren't going to put our best foot forward.
I often wonder what would be created and how much difference it would make, if all available resources were used to advance our wellbeing as a global society. I actually think that it is unimaginable and the difference it would make in things that we are struggling with now like energy challenges, social issues and individual suffering, would be immense.
Though, while I am an idealistic dreamer, I am a realistic participant and acknowledge that the likelihood of this happening, is close to zero, because we are ill, and aren't getting better.
I hope we all would.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
