The Good Life

Think about this deeply:

Today, as a society we have linked "the good life" exclusively to how much money one has. Living in a good neighbourhood in a decent house, having decent amenities at home, wearing good clothes, sending one's children to decent schools, being able to go to a good hospital when sick: everything is simply linked to one's bank balance. This has resulted in a society that encourages making money quickly in whichever way possible. In some sections of our society this has taken things to the extreme that parents cut short their children's education and engage them in earning money - the thought process being "what's the point of education if one can earn money without it"?

Now this is deeply unhealthy! Undervaluing knowledge and education will result in a society with substandard doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers, judges, teachers, professors, police officers, administrators, writers, musicians, painters, and so on, very very quickly. In fact, can you sense that this is already happening? Worse, societies that undervalue knowledge and education also have a higher crime rate as people start engaging in criminal activities: theft, drug dealing, prostitution, etc.

A society bereft of knowledge is not only a low quality society, it's also guaranteed to become a society dependent on foreign powers. Nations that lead are also nations that invest in keeping their societies knowledgeable. This has always been true. And it will always be true. Self sufficiency depends very strongly on how knowledgeable a society and country are.

We need to bring a shift and figure out ways to guarantee a good life to the following three sets of people:

1) People who have put themselves through an advanced level of education and are committed to using their knowledge for the society's benefit.

2) People who may not have been able to go through traditional education due to personal or family reasons but have developed a skill or an art form on their own to an advanced level and are committed to using their skill and art for the society's benefit.

3) People who engage in social work and dedicate their lives to serving the poor, the destitute, the orphaned, the abandoned.

We have to stop expecting the studious, the scholarly, the learned, the artistic, the skilled, the compassionate, the caring, the servers, to "be good" on their own expense while we give a comfortable life only to those who somehow run around and make money.

This will bring back balance in our society.

Are you able to see what I'm getting at?