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Thoughts consume most of our lives and they don’t even exist.

22 years of riding trains, not once have I stopped there. It only saves 5 minutes to skip it. Why does nearly every train skip it?

Some countries use a year of compulsory military service as a rite of passage for young adults. Looking at our 18 year olds today, some might say we need to bring in this kind of enforced ‘gap year’ for the good of the individual and of our whole society. And of course, it would strengthen the country militarily to have a national service corps. But at what cost? Would this be worth it?

Think about the various ways seeing and how expertise is allotted in our society and which point of view is given privilege of expression, employment, publicity and notoriety…

For Cheryl Strayed. Getting started might be an impulse. From there to the finish requires something else.

People have great ideas all the time- how to help those in need, starting with providing water where there is none, sanitary and hygiene products where they are lacking, food and shelter to those without… but do politicians ever change? We keep electing and fostering a system where the greediest are given the role of decision makers… why is that?

Throughout our lives we sacrifice many things for money- relationships, comfort, time- if I can rationally decide, with no duress, that dispensing with an organ is my preferred mode of raising money why should I be prevented from doing so? Particularly given that it may save the life of someone in urgent need.

I’m asking because it is a question, after standstill discussions with peers — some for; some against — I cannot clarify to myself what I believe. To have this question answered would not only put my mind at ease, but influence how I see the world and go about my life.

Thinking about the past Communist vs Fascist dualism, and now the “good” vs “evil” i.e. the “West” vs “terrorism” dualism, and past and present governments using these terms as pawns for their own agenda, perhaps rendering them meaningless. Also thinking about the list of organisations deemed ‘terrorist’ orgs by Australia, e.g. the PKK Kurdish Workers Party who are fighting ISIS (therefore, terrorism) in Kobane

I’m asking this question because it is, without doubt, something that most of us want to have happen, and I would like it to be both possible and to be brought about. However, I’m wondering if thinkers who have had more experience of life and of thinking, than I have, believe that it is actually possible. It matters to me because I see peace as enabling any person to experience a positively richer experience of life, and for this reason, I view it as being something that should matter to all of us.

Can you tell us how we, the people, convince the United nations to act as a genuine force for good in the world by bringing together the might of the world’s most powerful nations to rectify, at its source, the trauma these individuals are enduring? Or can you suggest other ways we can act? I’m asking this question out of sheer frustration that we can do nothing more than be compassionate to the world’s victims AFTER the event. People power has achieved results before, so perhaps those caring people can do more now – but how?