This world of ours is not perfect. That must be the understatement of the century. It is flawed, flawed beyond compare. There are innumerable problems with it. The ubiquitous poverty. It saddens ones heart and guilts ones spending. It refuses to be eradicated. We have been able to eradicate small pox, black plague and many more complicated diseases, but when it comes to raising the standard of living of people in our world, we are yet to find a solution. Innumerable economists the world over write thousands of books on the subject yet we can’t find a lasting working solution. If we took the wealth of the 10 richest people in the world, you can eradicate poverty and hunger 10 times over. Bill gates has enough money to buy a country, yet even US considered to be the most developed country in the whole world suffers from poverty.
A whole host of other problems- terrorsim, unemployment, health care, mortality rates etc etc.. I mean there are so many problems in the world. It is still unbelievable that we can send people to the moon but can't find a solution to get a poor man decent health care. It boggles the mind and rattles the heart. In the world of indexes, there is one index I particularly like called the happiness index. It measures the happiness of people living in a country.
They say money can’t buy you happiness, but then it absolves you from unhappiness from a whole host of other problems. So imagine for a second that you are the richest man in the world; equivalent to say 10 bill gates. You are so rich that Lord Kubera will be put to shame. With this money, what can you do you wonder. You go about eradicating problems in the world until one day the world becomes the fabled Utopia. You have done it. There is no more poverty, no more hunger. No citizen has want for anything. He has everything that he needs. All thanks to you, you are the sole man responsible. You will be remembered for generations.
Now you are living in Utopia. The perfect world. A world with of equitable development, where there is no caste no creed. Concepts like rich and poor do not exist. There is no high class or low class society. There is no corruption. The government is for the people, by the people and of the people. The roads are paved, housing for everyone. Everyone has jobs and every job is respected. All jobs are paid so as to ensure a high standard of living.
What I wonder is would one be happy in such a place. Would you be happy in such a place? In utopia there is no place for artists, musicians, painters, poets etc. You would ask why? To create art, there has to be burning passion. Passion is normally stimulated by angst, hurt, betrayal, loss, bereavement. But such feelings don’t exist. Classic example is the quality of rock songs of the 70’s and early 80’s to present day songs. There was a burning desire to break free from the shackles of the’man’ Hence, you had an array of the best rock n roll the world has ever listened. But then you would say happiness should exist, right? By happiness all its derivatives like love, belonging, satisfaction, achievement. But contrary to what we believe aren’t these feelings relative. If everyone is happy, isn’t no one happy. How do you distinguish one feeling from the other? All feelings will be mellowed, subdued. Passion will be extinguished. It ceases to exist.
This was basically an answer given to me by my primary school teacher (I don’t remember the name of the teacher) when I all in innocence had asked what would it be to live in a world absolved of all problems. She said that the concept of Utopia only exists in the mind of us humans. That is why she says that the poorest man can find happiness and the richest man may not. It also doesn’t necessarily equate to wealth. I mean you can be physically deformed, or suffering from an incurable disease. But, if in your mind you can find the joy out of your surroundings and people, then there is your utopia.
How apt and how true that explanation remains. So think positive and your world at least in your eyes is a utopia.
Your views on this matter are highly appreciated. It may not be perfect, but it's what we got.
