What’s the Leading Problem Facing America in 2018? Circle one.
A) Terrorism
B) Global Warming
C) Sexual Assault
D) Racism
E) The Opioid Epidemic
F) Mental Health
G) Other
This could be one of the hardest questions you have to ask yourself—because how can you put one of these above the rest? What factors make one problem more important than the others?
I’ve thought about this question for a long time. I want to make a difference in the world, but I’m only one life with so much power, I can’t take on all these problems at once—right? Do I really have to pick and choose my fights?
But when you really think about it, all six of these problems seem to overlap with one another. Mental health is an obvious factor to the opioid epidemic. Sexual assault and racism derive from social constructs and power relations. Terrorism stems from aspects of racism and our desire to “other.” And all of this is happening on our earth, which is slowly deteriorating away.
All of these problems are influenced by economic, political and social agendas.
By tackling one of these problems, or even a small portion of it, we are affecting all six, if not more, national and/or global epidemics.
So, choose your specific niche of activism. Devote everything you can to it, and know that you are not just tackling that one problem, but you are taking on all of them. If every single one of us does one little thing to make a difference, I believe we can actually make this world a better place for every living thing on it.