[Spicious]

Read http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/opinion/14krugman.html if it lets you.

[peterv]

1. Don't be a dick.

2. Keep your head down and try to avoid the bull****.

Really, all most of us can do is focus on keeping ourselves and our immediate loved ones safe and comfortable. If you really want to be able to effect change on a global scale, then you'll probably have to fight your way into the political or corporate elite. And you almost certainly won't be able to do that without violating rule 1 up there. Other than that, it looks like voting and democracy are a crock according to the research Battuta's been doing.

So yeah, just do the best you can at whatever you do and love everyone.

This with the exception of the "love everyone" part.
 

[Unknown Target]

If you can't trust people, then there's no point in continuing the species. If you trust yourself and accept that they are all people like you, then you have to trust them to be themselves. What you do with that trust is up to you - honor is internal.

[Snail]

Give peace a chance! \o/\o/\o/

[Dilmah G]

If you can't trust people, then there's no point in continuing the species. If you trust yourself and accept that they are all people like you, then you have to trust them to be themselves. What you do with that trust is up to you - honor is internal.

[Rga_Noris]

I'm currently a Paramedic in a busy ass system. I've been in EMS for 7 years. Wait no, 8 years.

To become a Paramedic, I started running start in high school as soon as I could to knock out the pre-reqs. Then I got a job at Safeway and a job at an ambulance company cleaning out bloody ambulances and scrubbing toilets. I also went to school full time. I had no money, and spent all my time at one of those three places OR my car going to these places. Or sleeping at the ambulance company. I lived in Vancouver, WA, where I worked at Safeway. School was in Portland, my other job in Hillsboro. I shared rent on a cruddy old apartment that I hardly saw.

I am now a Field Training Officer for the ambulance company, and I make more money then I ever have. I admit my viewport is skewed on this matter, but if there is one problem that the American populous has, it is the fact that failure IS an option. No one is required to do what I did anymore. Hell, I could have easily told my MD that I was tired and falling asleep in class, because I was, and received a diagnosis of chronic fatigue and then live off the state. *

Now, do I think state programs are bad? No. They are just set up in way that encourages failure. For example, let's say I get obese and have knee problems that I claim make it impossible for me to work. Oh sure, we like to pretend that I have a degenerative disease that I have no control over, but the reality is that my joints can no longer tolerate my own weight and degrade at an abnormally fast rate. My diet has no calcium or other nutrients either, so that causes further degradation. BOOM. You are on disability. We give you pain medications, narcotics. What should happen if you improve? You lose the meds. You lose the benefits. You have to punch a clock like I did, and will until I am far too old.

Is life great on disability? Not really. It is not horrible, I see plenty of the people described above with computers and consoles lying about with Cable TV. But yeah, the apartment is a bad place near a bad school. Do they want to be successful? Nice house? Cool car? Yeah, sure. Do they want to put in that effort? No. Not at all. Life aint great, but at least it is easy.

If America has one issue, it is that we forgot how to row our own boat.

*I am not saying that Chronic Fatigue is not a real issue/disease. What I am saying is that its diagnosis is often given to those without any real issue aside from laziness.

[perihelion]

I agree with the above.  Unfortunately, "tough love" does not generally get one elected to an office where it could be enacted on a level significant enough to matter.

I've more or less given up on any top-down fixes.  They aren't coming for various reasons.  So, if anything, I guess I try to lead by example.  My wife and I have 5 degrees between the two of us.  We worked our tails off to get here.  We continue to work our tails off.  She teaches others to the same at university.  My work is lucrative enough that she can take that job and its relatively low pay without having to worry overmuch about our finances.  As one of two engineers where I work, I try to hold everyone here to a higher standard than they would otherwise ascribe to.  I try to explain why it matters whenever I can so they can take some pride in the extra effort rather than umbrage.

[IceFire]

It's a big world and unless you're in the right place at the right time it's very hard to have a global or even national positive impact. So what do I do... I vote, I talk with my peers, I run and walk for good causes and raise money for those with debilitating and life threatening diseases when I get the chance.  At work I try to be positive and in my role as supporting technology in education I try and make sure that those using the tech are able to do so effectively and that students aren't disadvantaged because of a technical glitch or improper use.

I wish I could do more... Maybe I can. But right now I still need to help myself a little bit.

[Mars]

I learn, I evolve, and I have a plan.

[Mongoose]

I can't exactly worry about the rest of the planet at the moment.  I'm working hard enough as-is on trying to force my life into something resembling the shape it should have rightly had a few years ago.