I believe that one of the biggest drains on society is the lack of a good, effective judicial system. It brings great shame to society as a whole that out judicial system is the way it is. Justice is fundamentally important to the maintenance of society.
I will add the following:
A moral code of conduct.
But I think 3) will naturally follow from 1) & 2).
Hey, I was just flaming like you asked me to! If you’re going to expect me to back it up, well…pffff…hmph! (gets all blustery, stomps off)
(FTR, I think what C3 said was one of the smartest things he’s said in any thread, and I agree with it 100%. Intraspecies cooperation does not threaten any individual’s ability or opportunity to reproduce, which is ostensibly the goal of being alive; and in fact his ideas would make it easier for anyone to reproduce.)
GOD! But when I say GOD, I mean Good Orderly Direction. Yes, education and justice are key elements. Tolerance and compassion, too.
I do not agree that we are worse beings than we were 10 years ago, or 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago, or 100,000 years ago. People have been bitching about evil modern ways since the dawn of time. I believe that we are more aware of our many faults. We now know about most of the horrible stuff that goes on around the world every moment of the day. We used to live in relative blissful ignorance. Also, we do not accept many of the awful behaviors that we used to take for granted. If anything, this is evidence that we are improving.
Too slowly for my taste, but doing better.
Yes, Good Orderly Direction: that’s me. But I’m much more. I call myself GOD for lack of a better word. I am God, Goddess, Godhead, Love, The Force, Allah, Yahweh, The Universe,
The Cosmos, Life, Energy, It, Intelligence, evolution, Nirvana, Bliss, Being, Jesus, Thor, Kali, Vishnu, Awareness, Justice, Right, Ultimate Good, Hope, and a million other things. Call it what you will, just believe in something. Even the most devout atheist can believe in his own Self-Actualization. Good enough.
The Universe is not meaningless. It is all-important, and every one of you is part of that. The particulars are irrelevant. The essence of it is to strive for goodness. Better yourselves and the world around you, as they are one and the same.
I am GOD. So are you. And they. And yes, even them. We are all GOD and we are evolving. Some of us don’t help because we are unable. Some of us deliberately throw our wrench in the works. It’s your choice whether to help or not, but the Process will continue. We ask that you participate in the glory of it all…or at least get out of the way. The Universe is going places. And having a blast along the way…