A World Bug List

By "Bug List", I mean a list of problems that must be dealt with. Humanity needs to keep a bug list of problems. We need to be reminded every day about the safety of our food supply, the lack of potable water, how many people are going to bed hungry tonight. We need to be aware of the rising number of homeless people, the state of financial institutions (people were worried about the sub-prime lenders before this week when one of the largest threatened bankruptcy). Our children are not reading as much as they should and antibiotic resistant bacteria are on the rise. There needs to a bug list that we all check every day and a way for people to either be assigned to work on those problems or a way for people to volunteer to work on those problems. We can' just wait around for the problems to reach their tipping point and then start worrying. These kinds of things just should not be allowed to sneak up on us.

Once a problem gets big enough or critical enough, it will be noticed and stories will be written about it. Television and radio will do shows and specials about it. Movies will be made. But, usually, when a problem gets to that point, it is too late to save some people. We all need to wake up each morning and think about what we are going to do that day and decide if there is anything we can do to help some problem on the list. We need to go to bed each night and consider if our actions that day helped with any of the problems on the list. Of course, there is no one list. And, of course, if there was one place, say the United Nations, where such a list was kept, who would have the authority to assign tasks? The people who worry about a world government would not want to be associated with it. It would have to be voluntary and that's just the situation we have now.

I don't want to sound like I don't think anyone is doing anything about any of this. Certainly there have always been good people trying to solve the problems that affect us all. Governments were probably first formed to handle these sorts of things. And there have been companies who were either founded to solve some of these problems or who donate to helps some of these problems. It's just that it seems so disorganized and uneven. I remember a coworker once saying that he was as apt as anyone to give money to people on the street but that he was against government programs to help them. What he didn't understand was that people can't exist on a haphazard "I'll help you when I feel like it" attitude. We need to dedicate resources that can be depended on year in and year out to fix these problems.

I know people who keep personal lists of people and events they pray about and help out with every single day. I need to get more organized and do something like this, too. In the end, this blog entry is not accusing anyone who reads it of not doing enough. This entry is just my own realization that I do not do enough. I m too concerned with my own little problems. I don't pay enough attention to things that affect the world and instead focus only on things that affect me. I hope this will be a start in the right direction.