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For quite some time I have been looking at reasons why some countries do better than others. Within these countries regardless of how well they do, you still find people on extreme ends of the economic and social scale. Some countries are fortunate to have more wealth to offset the overall level poverty, while others’ resources are overwhelmed by extreme poverty.

During this process I have come to notice several things that seems to be consistent in the two worlds. Things that others seems to have a better understanding of and are either able to control them or at least have found a way to effectively navigate their territory, while others are just trying to put out fires using any means possible without getting a chance to prevent their reoccurrence. Among these things are:

· Education
· Law enforcement and safety
· Food security
· Health
It is no secret that Under normal circumstances, every society works with only a limited amount of resources. That society’s survival is totally dependent on how they deal with the resources they have at their disposal. Thus to ensure everybody’s survival and the society’s long-term sustainability, such society has to create laws by which every member should abide. These laws then forms a legal framework that effectively regulate public resource distribution.

Another critical component is education, which is not necessarily classroom education, this ranges from knowledge of one’s environment. This include learning to distinguish right from wrong, preserving the society’s culture, acknowledging similarities and differences among the society’s members and learning how to respect and cope with one another. On top of that you add classroom education which normally serve as a progressive vehicle to future development and economic prosperity.

Any society with the ability to navigate the last two areas (education and respect for the rule of law), soon realizes what the society need to stay alive. Instead of fighting for the limited resources (which is common in poor societies), progressive societies come together and find ways to produce more of what is needed. Instead of politicking and painting ugly pictures of one another, progressive societies eagerly set aside their differences, embrace each other’s strength in an effort to push for a common cause with full knowledge that they are safer and stronger being stuck together than separated.

While poor societies are just living to get by, progressive societies are exploring ways to lead life to the fullest. Progressive societies survive on their own terms, while poor societies look to other societies for leadership and only to resent and blame other societies for their inability to control or at least navigate their own environment.

A progressive societies understand that you need a strong labor force to shoulder the responsibility of getting everybody from point A to point B. The health of every member is critical in the whole navigation process. If you have too many members with ill health, you would require twice the amount of energy and size in labor force to move everybody from point A to B and soon those doing the heavy lifting will be in the same boat as everybody else. Now you have a crippled society.

Poor and unprogressive societies have a weak support system, the fact that everybody is aware that they are operating on limited resources is likely to trigger a stampede to access the limited resources. Because the support system is weak, laws are easily broken. Those tasked with enforcing laws start looking out for themselves, leaving everybody else tired and hopeless. Soon they start entertaining the idea of using force and that gives birth to chaos, forcing everybody to fend for themselves which in the process puts everybody at risk and more so for the most vulnerable members of that society. At this point every rule, every sense of responsibility, respect for the dignity of other members get thrown out the window.

The strongest members of that society give themselves a false sense of security, for all they care, all they have to do is outrun the slowest camper when the wolf comes chasing. Soon they run out of campers to outrun, the wolf catches up with them and it is all the progressive societies’ fault. After all where were they when all this happened?

Filed under: Education