- Mohammed Al Medfa
- Dubai
- United Arab Emirates
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What wrong(s) would you right?
Hi there everyone,
I'd like to ask, what wrongs you believe there are in the world, that you would make right, if you could.
I posted a related question, asking "What would you tell children about following their dreams?" over here:
https://www.ted.com/conversations/7268/what_would_you_tell_children_a.html
& another asking "How will you strive to change the world?"
https://www.ted.com/conversations/7567/how_will_you_strive_to_change.html
I'm asking these questions as part of a video project of mine related to inspiring people to follow their dreams, right wrongs, and strive to change the world. Its all part of a web and real world project dedicated to enabling and empowering people, which we're starting called Utopian.
I'd love to quote the answers that some of you provide to this question and the other questions, and use them in the video. We'll be constructing a kind of 'visual wall' featuring everyone's statements.
We'll credit each person by placing their name next to their statement on the wall, which we'll be filming as an important part of the video.
I think these are deeply important subjects, and I'd love to hear what everyone has to say.
Thanks a lot,
Medfa
Don Wesley 50+
Think about survival of your community once again and correct a lot of wrongs!
I am in close contact with very old precious people who married very young and raised big families. All were raised on farms at a time when there was no electricity and no money.
They learned to “survive” and today each one of them, all over 80 is a multi-millionaire, still with their original farms, and close friends and family nearby.
All these men accept the reality of death and suffering and the joy that life provides. They are wise people.
Consider the old among you and ask them, what they think about today and marriage.
Have children when you are young and when you know that you will be good parents to them.
As you get old you will need your time to help your aging parents and Grand Parents.
Think about your family and your “village” and humanity not just yourselves.
Make life better in your village, however big or small it is.
We have to focus on the “survival” of the planet.
The Science of the "Silent Generation" is the "lever" which moved us to where we are today.
http://innjustice.blogspot.com/2011/12/science-of-silent-generation-is-lever.html
Don
Mohammed Al Medfa
I'll contact everyone who contributed once our video is ready, and I hope that we can all take steps to inspire and enable people to live better lives, and achieve greater goals together.
A wonderful, and meaningful new year to everyone.
Mohammed Al Medfa
Michael M 30+
Don Wesley 50+
I am being educated by the replies you received to your question - What wrong(s) would you right?
I choose to focus on man-made suffering, within family, village and the world.
This requires that we become educators to those around us.
I am doing what is possible for me to do alone.
Each one of us must choose to act wisely.
May The Great Architect Above approve your decision
I wish all commentators energy and luck.
Don [From The Silent Generation - 1930's]
http://innjustice.blogspot.com/2011/11/logic-without-morality-in-legal_06.html
Mohammed Al Medfa
Mohammad Marohombsar
Remember this?
"...And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others..."
-Marianne Williamson
And I will never run out of wrongs to right. There's always something.
Mohammed Al Medfa
Mohammad Marohombsar
It's good that somebody is working on these deeply important subjects.
Mohammed Al Medfa
Thomas Anderson
A wrong I would right, would be the first transaction of the person who cheated someone, or made too much profit.
Karim Lyoussi
Manos Baltzakis 10+
Mohammed Al Medfa
Your dreams define your identity and your identity defines your dreams. There can be little joy or honest success living someone else's idea of a good life.
Manos Baltzakis 10+
Mohammed Al Medfa
Also in my opinion this focus on the past over the future shows up in many other places too. For example a museum displaying likely concept technologies and ways of living that people may take up would be just as valuable as simply seeing the items of the past.
Michael M 30+
Michael M 30+
Yes, we cannot live others lives, or the one's they want us to live. I am still struggling with that! Freeing people has to mean something about them actually having the opportunity to 1) have self-identity 2) an opportunity to dream.
Manos great comment.
Manos Baltzakis 10+
Right,a combination of someone's past,their future (their dreams) and also their choices define them.The only part i disagree is that someone's future is not ensured,i mean they might say they want to live in a particular way and achieve specific goals,however their past is already 'concrete'. Another parameter that plays role is their history as nationality.What i mean is that when i meet a foreigner and i ask him where he is from i do that to build a bridge with his nation's philosophy and history and tradition so as to approach him,to understand him better.
Michael
I totally agree with your point and in my opinion those two should be everyone's goals.
Mohammed Al Medfa
I don't think in the long run one will ever regret those choices. I think it's almost a form of integrity :)
Manos, the thing is that for me it's their desire that defines them. Even if it is someone's wish to do something and they do not achieve it, it still tells me a very important part of who they are. To me it's where we wish to go, and what we wish the world to be like that really says the most about someone. That's also exactly it really I don't think identity should be concrete and immutable. It's true it is a combination of both I just think we currently put too much of a focus on what is immutable and has already taken place when deciding things about a persons identity.
João Pinto
We all, at some age, know in theory what´s right and wrong: we know we are all the same no matter color and genders, we must respect other people, the right of...., human rights, we've got to protect our world,etc,etc,etc. Everyone know that, but in the "real world" those things don´t touch most of us.
We all, at a certain age, should have the power to think on our owns.
It should be taught to us how to "learn to learn".
lynn eschbach 30+
Mohammed Al Medfa
Cynthia Fletcher
Mohammed Al Medfa
colin mackenzie
Ed Schulte 50+
or as indicated in the Shakespeare quote
"Nothing is either right or wrong, but thinking makes it so"
This ID's the trickster in lower mind/ego that loves energize itself with "make wrongs"
Mohammed Al Medfa
Michael M 30+
In a world where there is no right or wrong, wrong seems somtimes ok, and right never gets its due.
Misplaced Enlightenment views get us nowhere.
Jim Moonan 30+
Among them, as a human race we have strayed from the natural world and have constructed an artificial world that is in many ways in conflict with the natural world and the evolution of it.
One could argue that the human tendency to construct artificial worlds is in fact natural. But I disagree. Humans are capable of behaviors that other living things are not. When humans behave in ways that are in conflict with the natural world, that's where we go wrong.
Mohammed Al Medfa
Rish S
The world should be one single place governed by the best possible single political ideology, education system etc.
The whole idea of making a fence on a property is unnecessary until we humans learn to respect each others space.
Lets not increase the world population further as it is there is too much competition for everything.
Don Wesley 50+
www.ted.com/talks/daniel_goleman_on_compassion.html
This TED Talk, addresses the issue of why we don't react to suffering and fail to do the Right thing!
João Pinto
Since we are children that is showned to us that rules are easy to broke and there aren´t consequences to what we do.
We grow with this habit and all of us change the word lately when we're adults.
Another thing wrong in the world is today's people spirit: most of people loses strength and give up when find an adversity to pursue their dreams; most of people don´t see the point of protesting against something they find unfair or they do not agree just because some people don´t care of what they say, and, in the end of it, they get resigned. This can´t be: we got to protest against injustice, corruption, pollution, poverty, etc, or the world will continue as it is or get's even worst. We can´t let the powerfull people (politics, owners of petroil companies, ...) to chose our destiny. We've got to STAND UP and fight for what we believe!
I hope that I was usefull and I thank you for bringing up this subject.
Michael M 30+
Mohammed Al Medfa
I can't reply to your other comment since I think TED's commenting system only allows 3 layers of 'replies to'.
In my attempts not to steer the conversation too much I've avoided responding to a lot of the there are no right and wrongs comments. But I think I'll add my own view here since you said something very similar to what I was thinking with 'misplaced enlightenment views'.
I personally feel that these kind of 'it is all a matter of perception' views are ideological cliches. Its all fine to have as many oft-uttered philosophical positions as one wishes, but if they equate to no action or construct a perception which facilitates no positive impact - they are neither wise nor beneficial to the bearer or the world.
I think philosophy without a will for positive action, a will to discover that which will enable the best of us all, is intellectual miserliness.
Of course, many things that are merely matters of perception, or equally flawed perspectives are fought over, but that doesn't mean nothing can ever be worth changing. And those aren't the kind of 'wrongs to be righted' I expected people on TED to be suggesting anyway :)
Michael M 30+
I really like the intellectual miserliness phrase. It is that. It is a great way that has been constructed on Western culture, to say "I am not responsible". It does come from the Enlightenment view more than what is termed post-modern although it is usually associated more with it. I thnk it is more of a vestige of the rationalist attempt except ending up nowhere.
Your project looks to say to the world these things we can do! We can. There are things we cannot change immediately, or just wipe out with a stroke of a pen. There are things though that people in all cultures can DO to change what is now. I said on a another question, but it is true: We can't change everything, we can't sit back though, we can do something.
João Pinto
(Don´t worry, I was the one that removed the post because I tought I've putted it in the wrong place)
Mohammed Al Medfa
Rhona Pavis 50+
Also, RELIGIOUS BRAINWASHING OF CHILDREN SHOULD STOP. It shows disrespect for children. Adults need to merely act properly and children will emulate their role models. It is outrageous that children are taught by "religious" leaders to hate people of other religions. It makes religion the cause of negativity in the world.
Audrey Misiano
Right: Language learning promotes literacy and peace and is increasingly important for success in today’s global world.
I am advocating on behalf of early language learning in the United States. Most schools are wasting the most flexible years for a child's brain to learn languages. According to Patricia Kuhl: "babies are linguistic geniuses" (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html) and by the age of seven, the brain's aptitude for language learning starts to decline. The benefits to language learning (http://www.ncssfl.org/papers/BenefitsSecondLanguageStudyNEA.pdf) are immense and the need for multiliterate individuals continues to rise as the world becomes more interconnected.
In order to aid parents and teachers in exposing their children and students to quality language learning resources which are both free and easily accessible, I'm creating a website called Sunny Earth Academy which I hope to launch before the New Year. Think Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/) only the teacher is not one person, but participants from around the world who share their creations for teaching French, Spanish and English. I’m hoping the website will encourage monolingual parents to expose their children to other languages starting as early as possible. The inspiration for the website is the desire to share how my own children are learning French with their baby cousins, whose parents are monolingual. I also dream that the site will spark a global interest in sharing free, easily accessible resources for language learning.
I believe that through language learning, people gain multicultural awareness and in turn, language learners become more tolerant, peaceful citizens of our global world. World language education promotes multicultural awareness…multicultural awareness promotes peace.
Mohammed Al Medfa
The Sunny Earth Academy sounds great. As a person who attended an international school and grew up surrounded by people from all parts of the world, I've seen firsthand how immense a difference a multicultural environment makes to people's perceptions. Its something I'm personally very thankful for.
I would love to be kept up to date.
All the best,
Medfa
Audrey Misiano
There are already a lot of amazing people online sharing awesome language learning resources. I've been incredibly lucky to connect with several of them on twitter. So, I guess where I said above that I hope Sunny Earth Academy sparks a global sharing of resources, I should correct...I hope it sparks the CREATION of new resources by language learners themselves. I have started a club at my school which is doing just that. We're off to a slow start, but the students and I are dedicated to creating and offering engaging, high-quality lessons for the world.
I appreciate both of your comments immensely. Thank you again!
Medfa, I'd love for you to keep up with the project! The site will be at sunnyearthacademy.org and I'm hoping to launch before the New Year (with any luck)! I have put TED in the "Our Inspiration" section of the site...so many great presentations and wonderful ways to connect globally with fine people such as you!
Michael M 30+
Audrey Misiano
Paul Clanner
A wrong is a detrimental view imposed on the beholder that causes a victim centric reaction.
Please, think about that statement.
Can we right a wrong? Will we be able to right all wrongs or any wrong? Wrongs involve people who may not have the capacity or capability to understand what a wrong is or why it is wrong - so how can a wrong be righted?
In my opinion, wrongs are historical and usually the result of an incorrectly contextualised situation. That view is then escalated with a fanatical fervour using emotion and as a result, more wrongs take place because of it. I personally would classify "wrongs" on a scale of human-wide to personal (as language often gets in the way as does emotion).
Then the only way I see of overcoming it is to live in the now.
To be part of the moment, the present, could help stop the blame game that are started by those that have wrongs, provides my answer to your question
Erin Odwazny
Fund education better than the millitary.The welfare system is supposed to be a helping hand, not a way of life. A job is what you do to make a living for your family, it does not define who we are as human beings. Give moe than you take.
Don Wesley 50+
The philosophy, their refusal to accept "unconscionable court" decisions, and their power of connection to God delivered us into the splendid world we see before us now, yet not unaware of the evil still existing among us today.
Their efforts around objects "electrical," gave us telephones, and transistors all the way up to the Internet, due to their splendid work. And TED reached the World in the 1980’s.
They came into South and North America from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, leaving their elders behind, but “thankful” to their parents for education they had equipped them with. Brave minds and hearts moved them to come to the Americas.
Their young children of ages, 18, returned to the East to liberate Europe from the Evil of Nazism. They died and were buried abroad in the Countries where they fought.
This all being said about the Silent Generation we still have Evil in the world today with all the entrails of Suffering.
And the “present generations” must recognize that, “The Silent Generation” did the work while they were silent. They talked to God and silently did what had to be done to get us where we are today. They led the battle for Good! They fought the evils of their times!
The Internet is a powerful “Tool” to communicate; will it be where we will find todays Leaders of Good and overcome the Evils of today! Will the Internet be all Talk and no force for action?
We need to find touch, and intimacy in our own small villages, otherwise we will become paralysed with Excruciating loneliness, in the inter-Internet-Cafe’s where we go for a talk and a ‘Fix.’
I cry out as a Piper “Overcome Evil.” Give the poor and suffering their daily bread and heal them!
Move into action, and fight the evils of our times!
From a Great Grand Parent of the Silent Generation,
My love to all of you,
Don Wesley.
Michael M 30+
Ed Schulte 50+
And NOT made into a "wrong" is the understanding that there is 100% importance in Egoic / intellectual / positionalities when in fact there is much more to HUman BEing-ness then then those day to day lower mind habits
With this Rumi quote I am NOT suggesting here that this will meet your request but it can offer a way out...not to "Utopia" but to Higher Potentiality.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense."
mevlana jelaluddin rumi - 13th century
Phillip Beaver 10+
CAROL MORRISON
Perhaps in South America or in poor areas of the east.
Phillip Beaver 10+
I'm obsessed with the United States.
After 236 years, most Americans are still focused on liberty, declared in 1776, which may have been enjoyed for 13 years. The 1787 Founders wrote "We the People" hereby govern the people. But the majority, beginning in 1789, resumed the religionization of America--holding God responsible and accountable and refusing to be We the People as defined in the Preamble. Abraham Lincoln's (Gettysburg Address) vision, "government of the people, by the people, and for the people," never happened. Later, Lincoln blamed God (I think as in the divided people's pursuits) for the Civil War.
The Preamble has an interesting 1787 prioritization according to my 2011 interpretations: interdependence, justice, peace, defense, prosperity, liberty, and posterity. Liberty comes sixth among seven goals.
It is not yet too late for the American voters to reform.
CAROL MORRISON
But they are trying to stop that right to petition for change all together from what I understand. I've tried of course to get petition sights private but had problems there too (it was first) I'm no longer trying to do that.
I recently, with the "big government" failing, am looking for ways to give out smaller government (state, county and city, more power and the federal less.)
One idea was to have money collected not go "up" the ladder to the federal ladder (each "rung costs to run it" where once at the "top" it then makes its way back down once again costing money along the way. Instead a bank account for separate things where on the county level only for example 15% would go higher the rest remain there for that county and the state wiould pas 15% of what it collects from all the counties to the federal instead of the feds telling the states how to spend that money.
Also because of jobs set out of the country, we need to assemble products her in order to get we the people working again, but have the parts and pieces still made over sea's. And to create small assembly plants instead of one huge plant so that competition between plants at the consumer level would or at least could prompt a status to which assembly plant the product was from.
Import tax (which would go to support the federal government)would be less on parts but so high on the "whole assembled product" that is shipped in so that they are the same market price. Besides an assembled product might more likely be used to ship in contraband.
I would also roll back the salaries to 1990 for elected offices.
Phillip Beaver 10+
I appreciate your immediate concerns: especially the constitutional right to petition; layered taxation and federal coercion of local governments; high salaries in government jobs; levies against products priced on oppression of foreign laborers. I do not understand socially, reverse-engineering the economies of scale.
However, I am not as dedicated to administering governance but in managing governance. What I would like to work on during my remaining years is motivating citizens to 1) promote and celebrate individual focus on achieving psychological maturity during each of our perhaps 80 year lifespan, 2) holding elected representatives to psychological maturity, and 3) ensuring that US governance does not have two constitutions: the written one and the one existing and immediately past regimes have executed.
Last, and perhaps foremost, I want to convince the majority that “God bless America,” is our ruin. As long as we attempt to coerce (through worship and praise) God to be responsible and accountable for the seven goals in the Preamble to the US Constitution, our decline will continue.
The Preamble’s 1787 goals according to PRB's 2011 terms: interdependence, justice, peace, defense, prosperity, liberty, and posterity. There’s nothing about furthering the religion of God or Jesus.
Consider the desperation of the moral right, exemplified by Cal Thomas’s recent declaration that (false) political expectations justify respect for moral depravity: http://newsok.com/cal-thomas-whats-wrong-with-adultery/article/3629790 . Thomas wants us to vote for a chronological man with the morals of a pre-adolescent.
Psychological maturity (H. A. Overstreet, The Mature Mind) within the citizenry is what nations need.
The Libertarian Party seems to have the platform I support, but more important to me is motivating the people to become We the People as defined in the Preamble.
CAROL MORRISON
As far as religion I don't think they should be tax exempt to many while on there pulpits bring issues into their church like how to vote. If you ask me they should not "back" any person or any political idea, they are separate after all.
As far as morality giving the counties more power might cause people with the same morality to move within an area with like minded laws what ever they are, which would over time would allow whole communities to speak with one much stronger voice on many topics. Right now these few are scattered when they are within an area of others like them, perhaps they can see what they now turn a blind eye to.
Following what has been the way for many past generation when its clearly not working is beyond crazy but the "don't rock the boat" attitude is why I suggested a "test area" in my previous writing. I think to have change real change agreed upon we will end up having to first prove that it will work before it would replace whats failing now.
Phillip Beaver 10+
My focus remains with the people. I consder them resonsible and accountable for not being We the People.
Deborah Zotian
Mohammed Al Medfa
"Patriotism is the belief that your country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
- George Bernard Shaw
But yes I could not agree more. Dividing people by country and implying that that is somehow meaningful and allows for sweeping statements of people from one place or another is complete nonsense. One thing that really gets me is:
Why do we judge people by where they came from, rather than where they wish to go?
Thanks!
Deborah Zotian
"Why do we judge people by where they came from, rather than where they wish to go?"PERFECT! I will be using that, and the GBS quote, with some of my more stubborn friends.Good luck with your project.
Juliette Zahn 50+
Catherine Graham
Michael M 30+
Vivek Trivedi 10+