BEYOND SELF-INTEREST; EACH TIME A MAN STANDS UP FOR AN IDEAL OR ACTS TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF OTHERS OR STRIKES OUT AGAINST INJUSTICE, HE SENDS FORTH A TINY RIPPLE OF HOPE...

To qualify for the championship level of the (Young Columbus Program) competition all candidates for the trip were required to write an essay about "the most urgent problem facing America today," using the Southeast Missourian as one of their sources. Below is Stanley's essay.

TOYBOX EMPTY: EFFORT AT A STANDSTILL

TRADE NEGOTIATORS FAIL TO RESOLVE RIFT

ESTRANGED COUPLE OFF TO THE ROYAL YACHT

SECOND POST-COUP WINTER BRINGS HOPE AND DESPAIR

OCTOBER UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS RISE

DEATH TOLL IS STILL RISING IN HINDU MUSLIM FIGHT...

Reading the newspaper headlines these days can be almost dismal. Problems overwhelm us, and we feel incapable of solving even one of them.

For every headline about people helping people, at least five others declare disaster, dissension, or destruction. These problems originate in different parts of the world, assume different forms, and affect different people. But they can all be understood in terms of one urgent, root problem: overdeveloped self-interest.

HELPING OTHERS

People are both individuals and members of a community. Often today, though, they are all too eager to develop the former role at the expense of the latter. Social interest has dwindled to a Christmas contribution to a charity, while individualism has erupted into a pseudo-religion. The primary goal in life seems to have become getting ahead; helping others has been subordinated to the aim of personal supremacy.

The "rat-race" which now dominates the business world is indicative of this problem. People strive to climb the corporate ladder, forgetting all of those left behind. ~But those who have been left behind must be a chief concern today, for they are growing in number, becoming more and more helpless, and being increasingly ignored.

Self-centered concern of powerful groups has resulted in countless individuals who have fallen behind and collectively have no hope. A perspective of self-interest must be relinquished, and these members of society must be helped.

The homeless are one such abandoned group. The United States Conference of Mayors found that a large number of hungry and homeless Americans had to be turned away this year by groups formed to help them. Budget cuts, lack of initiative, and lack of concern prevent positive action to help the homeless. According to Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn, "The solution is going to cost money, the solution is going to require political will that has not existed. We need a clear agenda of jobs...and affordable housing." ("Help Limited for Hungry, U.S. mayors say." Southeast Missourian. 12 Dec. 1992: 5A.) Self-interested politics have prevented comprehensive assistance programs for the homeless, and will continue to do so until self-interest is abandoned in favor of a concern for common good.

TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT, PEOPLE MUST RETHINK THEIR SELF-INTEREST

Another major problem which stems from self-interest is environmental destruction. For monetary gain or short-term benefits, our environment has been pillaged. Companies take advantage of the environment for financial gain by shipping toxic wastes overseas to be dumped and by attempting to evade EPA standards. Deforestation and species extinction have become pressing problems which demand solutions, as have ozone depletion and air pollution.

The destruction of primitive cultures poses a threat to the environment as well. Indigenous people guard 12 percent of the world's land area and have unique knowledge of plant-based medicines, but their existence is threatened by the dominant cultures in their society. ("Primitive People: Report Finds That Earth Needs Them." Southeast Missourian. 13 Dec. 1992: 13A.) In order to protect the environment, people, once again, must rethink their self-interest. Respect should be afforded to every living thing on earth, and gain for self should not be sought over the welfare of all.

A change of attitude is needed. It is imperative that individuals reorient themselves toward community. People must begin to strive for collective gain above personal gain. All individuals, both powerful and powerless, must realize that "we are all in this together" and must begin to work as members of an undivided people.

IN EACH MAN IS A SPARK ABLE TO KINDLE NEW FIRES OF HUMAN PROGRESS

Individuals striving for common goals can greatly effect positive change. As Robert Kennedy said, Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

"One nurse practitioner cannot solve it all, but we're going to make a dent," said Nancy Mosely, a nurse who offers health care to impoverished children. ("Clinics hope to make dent in health care dilemma." Southeast Missourian. December 13, 1~92, pg. lC.) Mrs. Mosely's attitude is the kind needed to solve today's problems. Individuals who realize their power to effect change and who use this power to serve community will diminish the problems of society. The potency of the individual is monumental.

Charles Lindbergh wrote, "In each man is a spark able to kindle new fires of human progress, new light for the human spirit. This ember may lie dormant through centuries of darkness or it may be fanned to flames by the winds of a crisis sweeping over the earth, bringing others to life with its light and warmth."

The winds of crisis are blowing. It is time for people to light their fires not to warm themselves, but to warm their neighbors. Only when these fires are kindled will today's prominent problems approach solutions.