Candide

I thought I'd name this post after a book I read several years ago, Voltaire's Candide. At the time, I was mildly amused by Voltaire's ideas. Now, they mean quite a lot to me. I respect him so much for being the first to test the reading public with the question of why things are the way they are. Is the world as it is out of necessity? Do we live in the best of all possible worlds? Like most young people, I sit on the side of the fence that says NO. I firmly believe that if more people took a stand and found their conscience, the world would be much better. It's so easy to brush off social issues as being too big for the individual. It's true. No single individual can change everything. But of course, collectively, individuals can change everything. I'ts a little disturbing, though, when you study sociology. Sociological studies have timidly pointed out the integral role of the poor: we need poor people to do all the dirty work and buy cheap goods. So is the world, with it's classicm and racism, the best it can get? Could this capitalist machine keep running if there wasn't a 3rd world at home and abroad to exploit, etc.? Again, I'm going back to my last posing...what can and should be changed? What should I be doing about it?