Monday, October 24, 2005

We can change the world - we have the technology

Can the Serenity Prayer change the world? No, but you can.
Peter is a friend who belongs to my LASTfriends group.

Peter quoted the exact wording of the Serenity Prayer:
> God grant me the Serenity
> To Accept the Thing I cannot Change,
> Courage to Change the Things I can,
> And the Wisdom to Know the Difference!
>
> You should print and save this prayer so that you can remind
> yourself of it whenever things Don't Go Your Way!!!

Thanks for the exact wording, Peter.

There is a gaping flaw in this prayer. It's in the second line. Human nature says that it's tempting to use this line to emotionally dispose of problems we feel we would rather not tackle so that we can avoid the need for expressing courage as in the third line.

Peter, you know that the world could be made into a much better, safer and happier place because you have read 'Turning It Around.' Most people would prefer to turn their backs on something of this magnitude, thinking that it's too much work or it would be too emotionally draining. It wouldn't, but that is how they feel.

There is no problem that cannot be changed. Many can't be changed by one person alone, which is what I have maintained for years. We have to work together.
Any problem created by humankind can be fixed by humankind. Fixing takes a long time, but it can be done. Preventing them from happening in the first place indicates a massive step in the social evolution of our species. But it can be done.

I want to take that step.

I want your help.

I want you to help me to spread the word about 'Turning It Around.' That's not hard to do, nor is it emotionally draining. But it won't happen by itself and it won't happen by my work alone.

The Serenity Prayer was adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous to help those with addictions to accept that some things can't be changed.

The most critical benefit to Alcoholics Anonymous is the social aspect of the program, the support offered by one alcoholic to others.

Alcoholics who belong to AA have friends. Those who don't belong to AA may not have any real friends, at least not the kind that stay with you when you are not drinking.

AA offers these people something they have lacked for their whole lives, friends in a support network.

Other addictions need such support systems for their addicts.

What support systems do we have (does any country have) for socially underdeveloped people who turn to crime instead of to addictions? Most have none. Criminals are treated as pariahs, not as people in need. They need friends and support systems, but we isolate them behind bars.

I am working now on a theory that might show that adults who cannot read or that read poorly (functionally illiterate) were socially underdeveloped during their growing up years. If that is true, schools could change that. This is a huge development for education!

It could mean that,w ith a few minor changes to our school systems, everyone will learn to read and few will ever have psychological problems, reading problems or turn to crime.

Who will tackle a problem of that magnitude?

Who could tackle a problem of that magnitude alone?

Without you, the solutions to major social problems that I develop will die with me.

Should you, as the second line of the Serenity Prayer says, accept these problems as things you cannot change? Or should you accept that they can be changed and have the courage to help me change them throughout the world?

Do you want to leave a lasting and positive legacy so that people will remember you long after your life here has passed? Here is the way.

Together we can do what no other humans before us have managed to do. We can be the first ever. Imagine!

We have the technology (computers and the internet) to help us. We need to will to bring others into the fold with us.

Invite others to join the TIA group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/turningitaround/

Recommend 'Turning It Around' to everyone you know. Refer them to the web site to learn more and to a book store to buy the book.
http://billallin.com/cgi/index.pl

Send this message to as many people as you think might learn from it, might benefit from it and might help us to spread the word.

I develop the solutions that others can't find. I can't be the salesman too. Each one of you knows as many people as I do, or more.

We need your friends, neighbours and work colleagues to join us and to help us. Please give them a chance to do good, the same chance that you have.

Don't leave it to someone else. If you don't do it, the message and the solutions will stop with you. The world might be as if you and I had never lived.

Let's make it happen together.

Bill Allin
Author, creator of global solutions and one man trying to do a big job

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