Are we doing enough ??

Reading about the recent campaign in India against corruption , the freedom movement in Egypt and the struggles in Libya , I keep coming back to the same question , are we doing enough to make sure we are making this earth a better place for each one of us .

I believe I do contribute in a small way , I care about recycling , tutor English and volunteer at a couple of places ,but there is always a lingering question , given my capacity is this enough or do I need to do more ?

We as a generation are better poised than any other generation before us to create a lasting change . Also I think the need to be a part of the change is higher now given the fact that if we dnt step up efforts to do things like conservation of the earth , the earth might no longer be a feasible place to live .

Before I get into things we are not doing , I think we need to spend some time on things we are doing / ought to be doing

1. Giving 100% to our jobs . It is said that even if a sweeper gives 100% to his job , he has done his part in making this earth a better place . So as long as we are genuine with the work that we do we are already doing our parts.

2. Charity begins at home . A lot of people get involved in volunteering because it gives them a ego boost , makes them look better than their peers . Volunteering done for egotistical reasons would most likely cause more harm than good . So I would prefer being a person who just works on making him/her a better person overall , because a happy person at home can lead to a lot of happy people outside . So as long as we are working on making ourselves better people , taking good care of our families and helping out friends again I believe we have done our parts in making this world a better place.

Now what are we not doing right , our parents as a generation did not have excess of time , money or technology. Their entire lives were spent earning money and taking care of their families . Our lives are not like that , we have access to a lot of time , material wealth and smthin called social networking . But are we making the most of it is questionable .

We , the younger generation are slowly becoming a generation of excess , we party a lot , big houses , better clothes , flashier cars , alcohol , exquisite food , five star travels etc . I am not here to judge anyone , as I am a part of the same gen X . And all said and done fun has to be a integral part of our lives . But all I am trying to question here is how much of this excess is worth it ?

Would our time and energies be well spent if we were to spend more time say helping to teach kids near our house , cleaning up the garbage close to our houses , learning more about indian scriptures or helping out at campaign like that of Anna hazare . Some how these ideas seem to have slipped out of our collective psyche and I think it is time each one of us think about what roles are we playing in making this earth a better place , because one thing is for sure, time is running short and before we know this place we call mother earth would have been mauled to such an extent that we can no longer get it back .

So let us all be thinking of it today and in the days to come .....