*Was
discussing with my uncle from the USA today.*
The
adults in developed Western countries have mostly long invested in creating a
system of honesty, meritocracy, organization, basic necessities of water, food, shelter, rule of law and individual
freedom and choice, in which their children and future generations can get
fairness, opportunities to rise economically almost without limits and a good
life doing something that they are passionate about. They often used to 'push'
their children out of their homes around 18 to given them a chance to develop
independence and resilience, not because they loved them any less or did not
care. They had such faith in the system that it could both take care of their
children and grand children even if estranged and treat them fairly. This is
true long-term vision.
It
is this system which is the magnet for the millions who migrate or want to
migrate to from other lesser developed countries.
I
note that the Western system has been developed over about a 2-3 centuries, firstly
for their native people and opened up progressively to immigrants from '3rd
world' countries over the past 50 years or so.
We
are among the those who have made our homes here now. We need to contribute to
building up and keeping the system for the future even if we did not contribute
to building it before we were here. I note sadly that this system too has been
corrupted, even while it is being constantly added to. There are large sections
of people who are the victims of this corruption - in debt, in cycles of
generational welfare, bringing in the wrong kind of people who exploit, corrupt
and destroy the system and make it more like the places they left behind. The
Millennial generation is definitely the one to experience the cumulative
effects of the corruption and decay of a beautiful meritocracy that encouraged
hard, honest work and rewarded it.
I
fear for the system. I welcome efforts such as President Trump's to look out
for the best interests of his country and try to reverse some of the trends and
reverse corruption. I think it is crucial that such succeed around the world,
in each country doing its part within itself.
Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2020
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