the perfect world theory |
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the climate | the chaos |
the law | the order | the perfect world | the final message
Preventing Birth into Poverty
We are made to propagate. Our instincts and natural underlying drives simply are
aimed towards the multiplication of our race. That is what we ruthlessly do. Now
our multiplication has reached a stage where there’s so many of us that we are
threatening each other’s survival with our very existence. We are unable to live
peacefully since we find it harder each day to get what we need to survive
without taking it from others. The need of the hour is a law; a new rule; a new
principle: Basic financial capability must be required by law to become a
parent. Unless a person has the resources to support his offspring, he or she
should not be allowed to become a parent.
Basic financial capability could be measured in any form. It could mean assets
of a certain minimum aggregate financial value. It could mean monthly or yearly
income of a certain minimum amount. It could mean a minimum amount of money in
one’s bank account. It could mean a certain ‘child-security’ deposit with the
government. In some form or other, it should simply ensure that the person has a
certain level of basic financial capability. Also, this set level of basic
financial capability required to support and raise children should be
periodically assessed and reset in accordance with varying economic and market
conditions. Upon presenting the documents that show that one meets the minimum
required basic financial capability to become a parent, a certificate ought to
be issued to him/her, saying that he/she is now permitted by law to produce
offspring. This certificate should be ideally obtained before marriage. However,
it must be acquired without fail before the birth of the first child. The law
could require both/either parent(s) to possess this certificate.
The Parenthood Financial Capability Law (PFC law) is a law that requires that a
certain level of financial well-being must be met before producing offspring.
Simply put, it is a legal requirement of basic financial capability to become a
parent. The need for this law is evident in the abject poverty that a fifth of
the world lives in. Legally requiring basic financial capability to become a
parent would ensure that no more children are born into poverty, provided it is
a successfully enforced law.
The poor often have little protection against crime or social injustice
committed against them and they are often the real victims of unemployment,
crime, diseases, epidemics and ecological disasters. With the growing population
and the consequent growing shortage of the basic necessities of life, the poor
will be likely to find themselves in much worse living conditions than those
they live in today, with the passage of time. Since the poor are not only
deprived of their fair share in the basic necessities of life, but are also
quite often the helpless victims of the ill-effects of man’s progress, it is
imperative that poverty is a social injustice that must be removed.
Preventing birth into poverty, hence fulfilling a moral responsibility of
securing the basic rights of children who deserve special protection from the
law, will drastically reduce the inequalities and injustices in society. It will
also lead to sustainable development as there will be an automatic control in
place by which not more human beings are born than can be sustained by the
existing natural and man-made resources which corresponds to the money a person
has or his or her basic financial capability.
We need to understand why we are in this pathetic state of global existence.
There is very little we can do about it. We are all born into suffering. We have
nothing to build on. Nothing was given to us. Nothing can we give. It seems like
it’s unavoidable. For us. But not for the next generation. We can set a standard
for them above our own and see to it that it is followed. We can, through legal
reform in our constitution, require basic financial capability as a compulsory
requirement for anyone who wishes to be a parent.
Only financially secure persons should be allowed to produce offspring. The next
generation will then not be born without enough. The next generation will be
able to hold their heads high, proud of being useful citizens. The next
generation will not experience poverty or mass suffering. The next generation
will not see the horrors we read about in the newspaper each day. Hunger,
disease and death. Things that should not happen. Things that could have been
prevented. Had there been money.
Here is when the world can be said to have been saved: When children have
stopped being born into places where they cannot be adequately provided for. We
need some sort of a system in place that ensures that children are not born into
environments where they cannot be provided for. Some sort of basic financial
capability of the parents must be ensured before the child is allowed to be
born.
The help presently given to the poor will be of no use if the poor keep
increasing in number. It’s like pouring water into a leaking bucket. All the
water we pour ultimately leaks away. All the help given to the poor gets
distributed among all the poor who are forever increasing in number. Once we
enact and enforce the PFC law, all our efforts to help the poor will become
immediately fruitful.
I ponder on a single solution to man’s problems. It would begin with the
abolition of need. That would practically translate to: fulfillment of all
needs. All needs? Of an ever-increasing population? That’s impossible. Instead,
the strategy is: Stop birth into needy conditions. No more human lives that want
and need all their existence. No crime stemming from need. No ignorance stemming
from birth into ignorant or illiterate environments. No disease stemming from
birth into unsanitary environments.
Extremely positive circumstances for either poverty or prosperity. Not both.
What is extremely positive for one is extremely negative for the other. If
prosperity and poverty exist equally, side by side, then we haven’t done
anything at all!! The positive circumstances for prosperity should be encouraged
for zero poverty. Then the end of prosperity will be in infinite time in the
future. Otherwise, it will be near in the future and the proportionate poverty
will be massive.
There is no need for us to think that things will be the same as they are, no
matter what we do. What exists today is not what ought to exist. Should either
poverty or suffering exist? Do you want them to remain? Is it just for us to sit
back and think that since it is too hard for us to eliminate suffering, let it
continue? It is easier to change the ways of living, codes of conduct,
tradition, rules and even age-old values (if they are wrong) than trying to
eliminate poverty and suffering. The super-positive approach will keep the end
of prosperity very far away from our sight. It is easier to ask for and settle
for nothing less than the very best. This is the super-positive creed to be held
dear in our hearts. The super-positive attitude is easier to keep than change
all the ways of living, codes of conduct, tradition and obviously age-old
values. The super-positive approach of everyone being content or happy because
he or she gets whatever he or she wants is what will keep poverty far, far away.
Never settle for less then the best. Never lower your standards. This is not a
positive approach. It is the super-positive approach. This is what will keep
poverty and suffering far, far away.
The super-negative attitude exists in many parts of the world. It is the norm
there. Anyone who deviates from this norm is heavily penalized. Consequently,
these are the very parts of the world where poverty exists. They say that they
are positive. What they are positive about is poverty and suffering. Not
prosperity and enjoyment of life. In fact, they are both consciously and
subconsciously against it. Programmed to be so by their core beliefs handed down
by society. They are super-negative as far as prosperity and peace are
concerned, all the while lying to us and to themselves, not just that they are
positive, but that they are super-positive. And they gloriously succeeded in
fooling everyone, when all that their path leads to is more suffering, poverty
and despair.
Being positive about prosperity and enjoyment of life, the super-positive
approach, is the right and shortest way to conquering all disparity and
suffering in the world. Being positive about poverty or suffering is the right
and shortest way to destroying all prosperity and happiness.
So, this is my message. Suffering will never end unless we secure tomorrow. We
should start with this: Only people who can support a family should be allowed
to become parents. One who cannot support a family ought not to and should not
become a parent. If people who cannot support their children continue to become
fathers and mothers, the next generation will be as helpless as the present
because humanity as a whole will find itself incapable of supporting the next
generation. Basic financial capability must be a legal requirement to become a
parent, because:
1) Basic needs of the offspring must be met,
2) Environmentally friendly lifestyle must be affordable for the offspring,
3) Benefits of scientific progress must reach the offspring,
4) Education of the child should not be denied or adversely affected,
5) Child labor should be avoided,
6) Child healthcare should be secured,
7) Offspring should be insulated from the influence of violence and crime.
Living Standards Today
Human Development Index
HDI is a combined statistic of GDP per head, adult literacy, life expectancy,
average years of schooling and adult literacy to give an estimate of a country’s
development and hence the quality of life for it’s citizens. It was first
published by the UN Development Programme in 1990.
Going by the latest figures, these are the top ten countries as far as quality
of life is concerned:
Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, United States,
Japan, Switzerland.
Lowest Infant Mortality Rate
Probability of dying between birth and exactly one year of age per 1000 live
births is expressed as infant mortality rate. The latest figures, from 2003, has
the following ten countries as the countries with the least infant mortality:
Singapore, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Andorra, Hong Kong, Belgium,
Germany, Netherlands.
Global competitiveness
Global competitiveness of countries have been assessed based on criteria
covering the openness of an economy, the role of the government, the development
of financial markets, the quality of infrastructure, technology, business
management and judicial and political institutions and labor-market flexibility.
It shows the ability of a country to achieve sustained high rates of growth of
GDP per head. The top ten countries in global competitiveness (2004) are: United
States, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Finland,
Luxembourg, Ireland.
Highest Health Spending
Highest health spending is calculated for each nation as a percentage of their
GDP. The top ten countries that spend the highest percentage of their GDP on
healthcare as per the latest figures (2003) are: United States, Lebanon,
Cambodia, Switzerland, Uruguay, Germany, Suriname, France, Argentina, Canada.
Highest Education Spending
Highest education spending is calculated for each nation as a percentage of
their GDP. The top ten countries that spend the highest percentage of their GDP
on education as per the latest figures (2003) are: Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Yemen,
Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Denmark, Namibia, Malaysia, Sweden, Estonia.
Of the ten countries showing the highest quality of life, five are among the ten
countries showing the least infant mortality rate, four are among the ten
countries showing the greatest global competitiveness, three are among the ten
countries who spent the most part of their GDP on healthcare and one is among
those countries who have spent the greater part of their GDP on education. It is
clear where the nation’s focus ought to be in order to attain a higher standard
of living. Securing the life of children above all else is the shortest way to
improving living standards and curbing poverty.
Solving Global Issues
Low Infant Mortality Correlates to High Quality of Life
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