What would you like to see happen during this century to make the world a better place?

What is the future? Does it exist at all? Can we change it, or everyone has his or her own destiny? These are philosophic questions which people always try to answer. Nevertheless, every person thinks of the future. We always make plans, dream about something. More often people dream about happiness and always connect this concept with the concept of future. That is why, imagining better future I imagine all people happy. But not everything is in our hands, because there are many factors that can change our present and future forever. To my mind, these factors are wars, illnesses and cultural decline of society. Have you ever thought about it?

First of all, I want to share my thoughts about the future of my country, because happiness of the individuals depends greatly on the welfare of the country where they live. I am from Ukraine and this is a beautiful country with ancient traditions and hospitable people. I love my country and I think that it is the most beautiful place on the earth. Like all people on our planet Ukrainians believe in better future, but nowadays it is very difficult to make plans because of the war. People live in the present and are afraid of the future. Many young men are dying in the East of Ukraine. Children and women are left without fathers and husbands. That is why, Ukrainian nation is degrading. Wars kill people physically and morally. People of our country are in a big sorrow nowadays. We learn from the news about dozens of deaths every day, but the number of people who are lost is even greater. There are a lot of refugees from Lugansk and Donezk, who have to leave their houses where they wanted to live and to build their own future. To my mind, wars KILL the FUTURE of countries, nations and individuals. So, we must stop all wars in the world to give people hope for the future. We live in the twenty-first century, in the epoch of highly developed technologies, but we have forgotten about so simple thing as the value of people's lives. We had enough wars in the twentieth century. We had enough blood and sufferings. Thus, in this century I would like to see the world without wars, where people can solve problems using dialogues not weapons.

Secondly, if to speak about better future for all people on our planet, I should say that only healthy people can be happy. That is why, I would like to see the doctors discovering effective medicines for curing cancer and AIDS in this century. Of course, there are some modern technologies that help to cure people with these illnesses, but not all people can afford buying expensive medicines and paying for operations. Many children are born with cancer and other incurable diseases. How can the humanity stop these illnesses? In my opinion, governments must allocate much money to help people who cannot afford expensive medical treatment. Moreover, all diseases are caused by pollution of the environment. We must take care of our planet and then we will not face new viruses and diseases. All people should help each other. We must not be indifferent, because indifference, to my mind, is the reason of many problems. The twenty-first century must be the century when people will stop investing money to the development of new weapons and will start investing money to the development of the medicine and protection of the environment.

Thirdly, in the future I see our generation not only technically developed and healthy, but also highly intelligent. One of the problems of our century is people’s cultural decline. What does it mean to be highly intelligent? It means to be clever, have own opinion and point of view, be independent and competent. Unfortunately, silliness flourishes in our society. To be intelligent is not in trend nowadays. People forget about their moral development and have limited intelligence. Many people think that reading books and self-development are not important nowadays. The books contain the wisdom of the people. People should read books to be competent and literate. But, unfortunately, the erudition is irrelevant today. So, in my opinion, our society must be changed. People should develop themselves not only physically, but also morally. Many science-fiction authors have predicted cultural decline of the society in their masterpieces. Ray Douglas Bradbury, an American science fiction and fantasy writer, is one of them. He is best known for his novel “Fahrenheit 451” which he wrote in 1953. In this novel the author depicted the society without moral values. The books were outlawed and “firemen” burnt all books, which they found. Together with the books people lost the wisdom of ancestors. People forgot about their past and they lost their future. It is easier to control people who do not have their own point of view and who are silly. That is why, in this century I would like to see highly intelligent and literate people.

To sum it up, I should say that thinking about future people often dream about space ships, portals, highly developed technique. But all these modern technologies will not make them happy. To my mind, people will be happy if they are healthy, intelligent and if they find the way to prevent wars in our world. In this century I would like to see all children on our planet laughing and people smiling every day. I would like to hear only good news about the life of people all over the world. I would like to see all people happy and healthy. This is my dream. But I know that sometimes when you believe in your dreams they may come true. I like the words of Ray Bradbury: “I do not try to describe the future. I try to prevent it”. I agree with him, because only we can change our life and future. Fate of future depends on us and our deals. We must live every day as the last day of our life. To my mind, every person in our world must be happy. We must not think about past, because it has already gone, certainly, we should think about the future but it has not happened yet. That is why, foremost we must live in the present! Are you with me?

Written by

Ajnura Alieva - student of Kirovograd Kollegium (high school)

Julia Tuzkova - teacher of Kirovograd Kollegium (Magister Degree)

Ukraine, Kirovograd