It is perfectly understandable that the majority of people, the bulk of humanity who are intrinsically decent, struggle to conceive of how they can influence society to make our global society the better place that all decent people desire. The first step we need to take is to recognise that we are NOT alone in our desire for a better world! That we are not isolated individuals. And that we are not the first global citizens desiring a decent, humane and peaceful society. But we also need to realise that creating and maintaining such harmony will take not only time but considerable effort. However:

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

Making the world a better place begins with our choice to do so as individuals. In our decisions on how we will act in our world and how we will interact with not only other people, but the environment that enables all of us to live in the first place, by providing us with the air, water and foods that are intrinsic to our continued life.

We cannot look to the rich and powerful decision-makers in our global society to make the world a better place because it is not in their personal interest to do so. The history of human civilization makes it quite clear that very few of them have ever had the personal, ethical or moral inclination to do so. The simple fact is that there can be little desire to change society in those who currently dominate it.

Our current, lengthy economic recession was instigated by the greed-based decisions of our financial leaders, who having been bailed out by the tax money of regular people continue to pay themselves exorbitant salaries, huge bonuses regardless of whether they do a good job or not, and massive golden handshakes when they move from one firm to another, without any regard at all for their moral responsibilities. Or any understanding that they actually have any moral responsibilities.

Right-wing politicians now seem to believe that sufficient time has passed to return to blaming the defenceless poor and destitute, those without any economic power or decision-making ability, for our current hard economic times. As though hard economic times are the responsibility of the victims of such rather than those whose greed-based decisions generate them. Exactly like those who blame rape victims for being raped.

The regular arrival of economic recessions and depressions since the Industrial Revolution might legitimately be seen as showing the inability of the capitalist system as it is currently structured to handle the resource availability and productivity increases made possible by modern scientific and technological advancement. In the last 30 years, considering the massive increase in the rich/poor gap and the blatent greed and selfishness of the mega-rich modern media makes abundently clear; it would not be unreasonable to believe that the rich and powerful deliberately instigate them to suppress the expectations of the majority while personally increasing their own already ludicrously excessive fortunes.

As times harden and people become more and more strained in providing for their families, our “leaders” tighten provisions and budgets for everyone besides themselves and their rich patrons. The ‘austerity’ measures being imposed in European countries are a prime example; measures that make life hard for most but have no impact at all on the lifestyles of those forcing them on everyone else!

The gap between the wealthy dominators and manipulators and the people who actually produce our society’s wealth, steadily grows. Business leaders move production facilities to Third World nations where they can get away with paying a pittance in labor costs. That the workers in their factories there are treated worse than slaves would be and include young children has no apparent relevance to these dominators, many of whom arrogantly proclaim their Christian righteousness. Highlighted recently by workers dying in factory fires because the ‘supposed’ emergency exits are locked.

In such an appallingly deteriorating world, it can seem impossible for the average person to do anything that can make the world a better place. It can all seem too much, we can all feel the question “How can I possibly do anything to make the world better?” The seeming weight of the powers-that-be can drive us into apathy. Striving to make changes within the system seems and is a mountainous uphill battle. Political demonstration and protest occasionally makes headway on a specific issue but rarely with any endurance. Although recently, Internet activism through organisations such as Avaaz and The Sum of US does appear to be making some headway.

Nevertheless, it is time that we started thinking even further outside the box. We need to realize that large-scale group movements towards change have a tendency to be infiltrated and redirected by the agents of the powers-that-be. While still participating in those we approve of and believe in, we need to also undertake an individual but pervasive approach. A grass-roots of society approach that by-passes all the political hierarchical structures and simply makes society a better place to live in for all of us because we act individually and personally as the common-place majority of our society to make it so.

Our individual influence on the political, financial and business decision-making process of our global society is so minuscule as to be effectively irrelevant, and is likely to remain so if we continue to endeavour to do so through our current societal structures, no matter what nation on this Earth we live in. Our world’s decision-makers do not care about our opinions as long as we conform to the social structures they impose upon us.

The commonly stated principle is that if you want to create change you should and are best able to do so by working within and through the system. Of course, this is predominantly stated by the people currently empowered by the system rather than those who are not! It ignores the fact that the vast majority of those dominating and controlling the system are self-centred, greedy and arrogant, with no apparent regard or concern for anyone besides themselves and their immediate associates. And that the “system” constrains the relatively few politicians with any decency, to be “polite” in their criticisms of the abuses of the majority, typically resulting in them being worn down by living in such an ongoing evil environment so that they give up and retire. That in many of the political systems based on the UK’s Westminster system, members of parliament expect to be referred to as the Honourable this or the Most Honourable that when their actions show them to have little if any concept of what ‘honour’ is, demonstrates this. The few that are actually honourable are generally those that least demand such honorifics if they do so at all, while those with the least concept of the reality of honour most demand them!

So, what regular people need to do is ignore and bypass them. We need to change our society by our own actions in the one area that they have little or no control over. Our personal interactions within society.

We have little if any control over the political, financial or business decisions occurring in our global society. Even those of us that live in supposed democracies have little say in the decisions made by those who are meant to be representing the people who voted for them, but seem more inclined to follow the dictates of powerful lobby groups, business corporations and the mega-rich, if there is any real difference between those. However, we are the only people who have control over the social decisions of our immediate situation. The fabric of our societies is held together by our individual interactions, how we treat and respond with each other as individuals.

Over the last 50 years consumer advertising has gone from informing us about what we might like to buy, to telling us we need to buy it, to subtly or not so subtly encouraging us to be self-centred and greedy, so that we will buy it. Political parties advocate our votes on the basis of short-term gain while hiding from us the long-term losses we will suffer from their policies. Neither benefits us in any real or lasting way.

If we desire a society that not only meets our material needs but our emotional ones, an improving society we can be happy in passing on to our children and theirs, we must act individually. We need to pause in our hectic lives, driven by the dire straits our current leaders have driven us to, and seriously think about our own personal actions.

We need to think about how what we do impacts on those around us, not only our families and friends, but the strangers we also meet and interact with daily. Unless blatantly obvious, consideration for others has faded significantly in our societies since the demise of common courtesy, which was effectively a training mechanism for considering others. While many donate to charities, particular to support those facing disasters, few of us still consider how our everyday actions may impact negatively on others.

If we want the world to become a better place, we need to take the time to consider how what we do or are about to do will impact on others. We need to reverse the situation. We need to ask ourselves “How would I like it if I was the person impacted by someone else doing what I am about to do?” Not just in major things, but in the small, everyday things as well. How often have you been irritated or angered by someone else’s inconsiderate actions? Yet, if you actually think about it, how often have you acted or behaved in the same way without even thinking about how that may have irritated or angered someone else?

The one thing in our lives we have absolute control over is how we act and react to those we interact with in our human society. Every single one of us that makes the determination to treat those we interact with, no matter whether family, friends, associates or strangers, in a decent and respectful manner, will categorically improve the world. Just walking through a crowd with a smile on your face instead of a frown will improve the world; providing a positive influence rather than a negative one. And each smile you receive back can in turn enhance your own day no matter how bad other aspects may be.

It can seem impossible to change the big picture in today’s world, leading us into depression and maybe even despair. But if we can improve one other person’s day by our considerate actions or simply a smile, we have made the world a better place. And the more of us that do so consistently, the better the world will become. Until, perhaps, the socially and environmentally damaging choices of our current powers-that-be decision-makers will become ignored, ineffective and irrelevant, as they always should have been.