With the protests raging on in Egypt, and those that have sprung up in Jordan, Yemen, and now Serbia, many questions come to mind. For one thing, what are we, as on-lookers (particularly from the West) exactly living for? Those protesters in all these countries have something to live for - a new government, a new economy, a new life in a new political social system (whether that be democratic or not). The Western media believes that what they want is democracy, but this is not necessarily true. Perhaps they want more democratic principles added to their political system, such as multi-party representation, freedom of the press and speech, but these things are starting to become a norm, internationally. But really what these protesters want is a better life with more educational and economic opportunities.
So some questions for us on-lookers: are we content with our lives? Are we greedy? Two-thirds of the world live in poverty, they strive to live, in the minimal sense of the word, whereas the other 1/3 strive to live, in the maximal sense of the word. Should we not just live for the day (the age old question), since we don't know what will happen in the future? Every country has an elite class (read rich people), but many normal people are driven by greed - greed to acquire wealth and live materialistically. However greed is an unobstructed driver of motivation that propels one to excel and "grab whatever is in front him/her." Greed can maximize one's potential in the world, although it may be negative potential depending if you see greed as bad or good. It can also push others to the limit, such as what we are seeing in Egypt, and hence greed can be an inhibitor of action, albeit indirectly.
Perhaps this is a system of the world, and not just the Western world. All countries has elites can we cannot fault them for being born into the system. But this is also motivation to change the world, which is a bit of a Marxist argument, because to change the system most likely means to change the social class system. And to have a hypothetical here, if the class system was eliminated and everyone started on the same level with the potential to earn the same amount, there will still be a percentage of people that become rich, a percentage that becomes poor, and a majority that fluctuate in the middle. Most will remain content with their living situation and many will struggle. The world would probably look the way it does now, just because it is not in everyone's nature to be the best one can be.
But does greed bring out the worst in people (this too can depend on how one define's greed). For example, Warren Buffett, one of the world's wealthiest persons, is greedy. He is 80 years, loves making money (and a lot of it), and shows no sign of slowing down. Making money is his forte. Yet he is major philanthropist; so his greed results in good things too. But what is the point of being rich? We die and we don't know what happens next, we don't know what happens to our stuff that has accumulated nor do we know what will happen to our legacy, if we have one. Some people are honored and recognized after death, but the dead person does not know this. Even if this is what the person wants, does it matter, if s/he is revered after death since this person does not know it? This also begs other questions to ponder: why do some people have the motivation to succeed, why do some succeed, and why do others not succeed, especially when all are presented with the same opportunities before him/her (barring mental illness, disease, and the like). Why are people allowed to be different in the working world? To clarify, if efficient people product efficient things, then why do we allow people to be inefficient?
Right now, it seems that in Egypt, people are not being inefficient, mainly because there is nothing else to do but to protest the government. In this way they are able to voice their opinions in a way that is not being repressed (as was in the past). Some think that the time to transition to democracy has passed for Egypt (you can get this sense in this NYT article or in Foreign Policy), but that is not necessarily so. The situation is fizzling a bit, the police are moving back in and discussions are taking place, but demonstrators are still going strong and it doesn't seem to be letting up. As long as they are motivated to protest Mubarak's regime, they will be maximizing their potential as a person because they are fighting for something they believe in, even if they don't live to see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment