How do you save the world?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Scratch a cynic and you often find a frustrated idealist.

I think Sean nailed it.
 
Last edited:
BonoVoxSupastar said:


Fair enough. I don't know if this poster was baiting either. I've just found sometimes with questions like this the point is made better by turning around the question rather than giving a very detailed answer.

This line of questioning from this posters original post would seem fairly obvious to most. You feed children to prolong their lives that hopefully they find a way out of the cycle, you don't stop feeding them because, well they will all eventually die, that seems fairly obvious to most. But because the line of question comes from such a cynical place, I don't think a straight forward answer is really going to help. But if you turn their questioning around so they realize where their questioning is coming from sometimes they will see the flaw in their questioning.

I see your point. :up:
 
I'm really not trying to be cynical, just trying to explore/defeat this line of thinking I have.

There were two separate ideas in my post, and I'm not sure whether they got confused or not. The first was sort of addressing the fact that any change we make in the world, whether on a small scale or a large scale, everything will come to the same end. I mean, a teacher may find fulfillment in inspiring his/her students, but it doesn't matter whether that student is a cashier or a nobel-prize winner; they both end up the same. What constitutes making an actual difference in the world? And yeah, you feed children to prolong their lives to eventually get them out of the cycle...but ultimately for what purpose? That's what I'm asking. You make a difference in that person's life you give them food and blankets, help them survive, they may be very happy and fulfilled...but the world goes on, they're forgotten, and what is it worth? I'm not trying to be provocative or cynical, I'm actually looking for an answer. Really, what is it worth?

And my second idea was just sort of an offshoot, and re-reading it, it's kind of irrelevant to what I was actually trying to say.
 
AttnKleinkind said:

The first was sort of addressing the fact that any change we make in the world, whether on a small scale or a large scale, everything will come to the same end. I mean, a teacher may find fulfillment in inspiring his/her students, but it doesn't matter whether that student is a cashier or a nobel-prize winner; they both end up the same.

Sounds like somebody's been reading the book of Ecclesiastes lately! :wink:

AttnKleinkind said:
What constitutes making an actual difference in the world? And yeah, you feed children to prolong their lives to eventually get them out of the cycle...but ultimately for what purpose? That's what I'm asking. You make a difference in that person's life you give them food and blankets, help them survive, they may be very happy and fulfilled...but the world goes on, they're forgotten, and what is it worth? I'm not trying to be provocative or cynical, I'm actually looking for an answer. Really, what is it worth?

I'm gonna take a page from BVS and turn the question around--and please know I'm not trying to be sarcastic--What do YOU think would make life "worth it"? Clearly you feel that life the way it is isn't enough to be worth it in of itself. Which is fine--you're certainly not alone in feeling that way. I think most people feel that way, and in fact that more than anything else is where religion "comes from."

So in your opinion, what would make it meaningful? Would the elimantion of death be sufficient? (THAT'S the Holy Grail of most religions--no pun intended. Not, as many atheist naysayers suggest, "explanation for things we can't explain." When science can offer us immortality. . .well, then I'd begin to take seriously those that prophesy the "end of religion").
 
Back
Top Bottom