I believe I have helped select individuals have a less hum-drum existence. I believe that the nice things I’ve done outweigh the bad things I’ve done.
But I don’t think I can really say I’ve made the world a better place.
I’m a school librarian who can make kids have a good day when they otherwise wouldn’t. I help create community in the school in ways that can’t be measured. Also, I’m a good dad and my wife thinks I’m good in the sack.
This for me too. But only if TPTB have the good sense to give me, blondebear and all the rest of us sensible green burials.
In the meantime, we’re all spending our lives adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Yes. 47 years ago Mrs. Cretin and I decided to remain childless.
To paraphrase Nietzsche: We did our children the favor of not having them. Still happily together with no regrets, FWIW.
Yes. I’ve made significant contributions to knowledge of birds in Panama and elsewhere. I’ve written books people enjoy. I’ve produced exhibits in major museums. I’ve made important contributions to conservation.
Seriously, when I was draft age for Vietnam, I emigrated to Canada and refused to respond to correspondence. I believe my refusal to participate (they did listen to us) made some measurable contribution to an end (at least for a few years) of mindless slaughter in the name of corporate profits.
I didn’t respond to the poll, and if I’m looking at the world at large, then the answer is no. However, if I’m just looking at the people I come in contact with on a regular basis, then I would say yes, I do in a small way. If I take into consideration that I always try to show kindness, respect, and empathy to everyone regardless of my relationship to them then I do think I make a difference. Lots of little steps can lead to giant leaps. I’m a strong believer in pay it forward and treating others how you want to be treated.
I have done some things to make the world a better place. I’m pretty green and not woo green but science base green. I help put on an environmental music festival each year and am one of the voices keep what we teach & preach current with science and not just feel good. I also pony up and put my money where my mouth is. I recycle, reuse and reduce. I was an early adopter of roof top solar panels, CFLs & then LEDs. When my commute meant 20,000 miles per year I went ahead and bought a Prius. When I was younger I did cleanups and even led small ones.
I also honorably served in the US Navy during the Cold War. That might not count for many of you but I think I did my share.
All this is good, because in real life I am often an asshole though I try not to be. Hopefully it balances out.
Nope, I’m just here to consume resources.
Yeah, I think so. I’ve worked in mental health for the last decade or so, mostly direct client support. The peer support model means that those with their own lived experience of mental illness and recovery get to work alongside people who want to work towards their own recovery, encouraging them to work with their strengths to set tangible recovery goals. Doesn’t always work, but when it does it’s hugely rewarding.
you have to click the icon to the left of the “Multi Quote” text or else it won’t “stick.”
I haven’t cured cancer or invented a new type of artificial intelligence or anything of obvious use to the human race, but if one counts small contributions made in micro-environments, then yes, I think I have had a favorable impact. I spent the better part of my working years deeply involved with workplace safety, in both the policymaking and educational areas. I have seen reductions in workplace accidents as a direct result of the work I have done, at least when I was there to see it.
Changing one person’s life may not change the world, but it changes the world for that one person.
If nothing else, I know I’ve made the world a better place for hundreds and hundreds of dogs in my time volunteering at my local shelter, for my local pit bull rescue and by driving transport for a variety of rescues over the last 10 years.
I have been the world for hundreds of unwanted cats. I do Trap Neuter Release and have probably spent thousands of my own money to do so. I am the primary caretaker for an unrelated seriously mentally ill person. I honestly do believe that I am the only reason that he hasn’t climbed a clock tower with home made bombs and a crossbow.
I can’t save the world. I can do what I can to make my own part of the world a better place.
But nobody will remember my efforts in a hundred years.
I did that. Nothing.
Thanks anyway
have I made the world a better place? I dunno, by whose standards? Do I leave the world more aligned to my goals? Heck no, at least not if I died today, the world has been moving away from my goals at a seemingly rapid pace these last 20 odd years.
Actually, seeing as relativity is used in the GPS system, then potentially, his work’s done quite a bit for people in less developed areas, especially for disaster management. Accurate mapping to aid in flying aircraft, communications, the control of epidemics,…
Back to the question; for me, probably not.
I’ve been involved in some conservation projects, I’ve volunteered for a few charities whose aims I agree, or largely agree with, and I try and make people’s days better when I can, but if you put that on one side and the travel emissions, the waste I’ve produced, and the habitat destruction from food and products I’ve eaten or used, I’m petty sure the negatives have it.