How can we make the world more peaceful?

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How marvellous! A quote about housecleaning.

No, it's a metaphor, my friends. Think about a scene where almost everyone has kept the front of their home clean, tidy and orderly. Then there are the few who have not.

What would you think of those who had not kept up the community standards of cleanliness in your community? You and your neighbours would help those few to understand their responsibility to their neighbourhood, I think.

Believe it or not, clearing away social problems such as drugs, violence, high divorce rates, homelessness, emotional breakdowns, bankruptcies and even teenagers with attitude problems is easier than cleaning in front of your own door.

How is this possible? you might ask. Why has someone not thought of this before? Simply, no one else looked in the right places for the answers. The solutions are not hard, but you can't find them by letting others look in the wrong places.

If everyone in a community except you kept their house fronts filthy and unkempt and you were the only one who had the clean property, would you say that change for the better (toward cleanliness) was impossible? Maybe you would. But it's not impossible.

Any kind of social change that is effective happens in the same way, only one way and only one possible way. It must be taught to children. Young children. Kids who grow up believing that house fronts should be kept clean will keep their own clean and will encourage others to do the same.

Kids who know what is necessary for a successful marriage will remain married because they know what to do before their marriage falls apart. Kids who know the skills of parenting (what children really need, not just clothes and food) will be good parents and will grow competent and confident adult offspring.

The world can be a place of peace, your community can be clean and safe, your family and you can lead happy and fulfilling lives.

Teach the children what they need to know, before they need it. Teach them right. Teach them good. Teach them peace.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to change the world one house front at a time.
Learn more at http://billallin.com/cgi/index.pl