Waiting for the World to Change is a Waste of Time

One day, human beings will inhabit a perfect world. There will be no violence and no poverty. Productivity will be high and consumption will take place without waste. Everybody will be healthy, the environment clean, and Nature, most of the year, green.

The question is how long it is going to take before we get to live in such an ideal planet. Some say a hundred years, others speak about seven times seven generations. Reaching such goal depends on so many factors that no one can give a precise estimation.

Having ambitious plans for the world keeps people debating on talk radio and television, campaigning and making speeches. The problem with those activities is that they tend to have little or no positive effect on your own life. The more passionate you are about improving the universe, the harder it will be for you to accept its fundamental inertia.

Even if you devote all your resources to trying to change the world, you are unlikely to achieve your objective. Even if you give up sleep and work incessantly for your cause, chances are that your achievements will remain modest. There are powerful reasons for this phenomenon:

1. Fundamental changes take place, on most occasions, very slowly.

2. From the perspective of an individual, world improvements often remain imperceptible.

3. Technical innovation does not necessarily affect beliefs. New technologies frequently reinforce traditional views.

4. Most attempts at improving things only aim at increasing their speed. Making the same old mistakes faster seldom brings substantial benefits.

Waiting for the world to change is a waste of time. You will find proof of this by opening any History book and reading a few paragraphs. Things change slowly and trends are rarely reversed.

In hindsight, we can tell that the Roman Empire was already doomed at the beginning of the 4th century. The Eastern part of the empire held out for another thousand years and finally fell apart. The efforts of millions of people did not manage to save it, only to prolong its agony.

Discussions about what society will look like in a distant future seldom bring advantages in the present. A wise man should pursue his own success and happiness without waiting for the world to become a perfect place. The fact that we will never get to live in a flawless universe should not constitute a reason for despair.

Move on and do not let the mirage of utopia paralyse your actions. Perfectionism is as lethal as cynicism. Rationality is the only approach that works. Do work at improving society, if that is your desire, but focus on short-term goals, on tangible results that you can enjoy in your lifetime. If you wish to be idealistic, do it in an affordable way.

Nothing is gained by your going bankrupt for a good cause. Keep your actions focused on small gains that will contribute to your happiness. Some people believe that History moves only in one direction, forward, and that tomorrow will be necessarily better than today.

Such conviction is absolutely false. Expecting the world to get always better is unrealistic. Once in a while, events may fall into such positive pattern, but if you look carefully, you will also find many aspects pointing in the opposite direction.

When Edward Gibbon began to write The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the year 1769, his goal was to demonstrate that, in History, civilization often moves backwards as time advances. Reading Gibbon's work is an excellent foundation for understanding current problems and avoiding wishful thinking.

"In the Dark Ages, ancient statutes were broken and melted by unfeeling avarice," noted Gibbon. "The soul of geniuses who had shaped them evaporated in smoke. The cost and labour of centuries were consumed in a moment. Of the writings of Antiquity that still existed at that time, many were lost forever."

After the fall of the Roman Empire, injustice and evil took over the world during hundreds of years. There was little that individuals could undertake against the tidal wave of ignorance and violence that swept entire continents. Those who tried to resist were wiped out. The productive capacities of whole populations were destroyed and life expectancy sharply decreased.

Despite those difficulties, a small minority survived and thrived in the Dark Ages. New agricultural methods were developed and land productivity doubled. The innovation of using cork stoppers in bottles created a mass-market for wine. In the quietness of monasteries, Greek and Latin books were translated into modern languages, preparing the transition from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance.

History never follows a line of steady progress where all things become increasingly better. Each century is shaped by conflicting forces. Trusting that the world always turns better with time is an unrealistic point of view.

The passage of time does not guarantee that knowledge will be preserved. Many skills and techniques have been lost and forgotten through the centuries. Mistakes of the past are likely to be repeated. Expecting the world to change necessarily for the better is a pleasant fantasy which contradicts the facts of History.

Believing in myths never yields good results because it inhibits individuals from taking action to improve their own situation. Check facts, ask questions, and find out what things are really like. If prospects don't look good, that might be a signal for you to change direction.

Assess reality with a fresh view, draw your own conclusions, and discard unfounded hopes. "The false application of the maxims of Antiquity is the source of many disappointments," concluded Gibbon. "One should never overlook the differences in time and characters."

Look ahead and decide if you like what you see. If you don't, take measures to protect yourself and improve your prospects. Waiting for the world to change is a waste of time. Make sound choices and play your cards wisely. There are plenty of things that you can do to make your future brighter.

JOHN VESPASIAN writes about rational living and is the author of the novel "When Everything Fails, Try This." He has resided in New York, Madrid, Paris and Munich. His stories reflect the values of entrepreneurship, tolerance and self-reliance. See John Vespasian's blog about rational living.

http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com/