Many millions of persons in impoverished lands, also increasing numbers in industrial countries, would like to work but simply cannot find jobs. How fine it would be if all could live active, productive lives! What relief many parents would experience if, instead of seeing their children waste away from hunger and disease, they could provide well for them! Would you not welcome the day when no one, whether yourself or others, would have to live in poverty, without adequate shelter from cold and pouring rains?

Besides earth’s starving millions, many other people yearn for greater stability in life. It would be such a comfort to know for sure that what one has long worked for will not later be reduced to practically nothing because of inflation. If costs of basic necessities were to stabilize, the aged, the infirm, the handicapped and others on fixed incomes would be free of a big worry.

Then, too, even the man with a well-paying job may find little satisfaction in what he does. He may find his work dull and monotonous. Or, poor cooperation among workers and fierce competition may leave him frustrated, tense and completely exhausted at the end of the workday. What a pleasant relief it would be to do work that is really enjoyable and that contributes to the good of others! And it would indeed be refreshing to work alongside people who truly cared about one another.

Besides that, how much happier people would be if they could feel bodily secure! Many city dwellers long for the time when streets will again be safe for women and children even after dark. Think how delightful it would be to live on an earth free from all injustice, oppression, crime and war, free too from sickness, old age and infirmity, and free from pollution of water, soil and air.

If we are really to enjoy life fully, all the serious problems facing us must be solved.

Likely you have noticed that many problems are brought about by circumstances that, in effect, hold us captive. Even though people may want things otherwise, they are helpless. They must work within the framework of the existing system.

Take as an example the farmer in so-called progressive lands. To succeed, he reasons that he must use modern methods. This requires a lot of money these days. Without a sizable profit, the farmer cannot meet the high cost of machinery, fuel and fertilizer. So if demand for his produce drops, or if he suffers heavy losses due to other problems, he may be unable to pay for what he needs to continue farming. He can lose everything if he operates on borrowed money.

And how much can the farmer do personally to relieve the suffering of earth’s starving millions in today’s society? In the land where he lives, tons of meat may lie in cold storage. There may be no buyers for his marketable hogs and cattle. The farmer may very much wish to see hungry people benefit from what he has. But to continue farming, he must be paid for his animals. Can he afford to give them away?

For meat from his livestock to reach any of earth’s hungry people is no simple matter. Those involved in handling, processing and transporting the meat must be paid. They, too, have to make a living. Even if meat for which there is no market in the country of origin were donated, transported free to famine-stricken areas and given away to those in need, this might not solve their problems. Why? It could be against their religious beliefs to eat meat or to eat meat from certain animals.

Industry, too, is locked into a system that depends on big profits. Machinery, fuel, wages, raw materials and maintenance require large outlays of money. To compete on the world market, manufacturers must keep prices as low as possible. In some cases they cannot afford to spend large sums on things unrelated to profit making​—for example, antipollution measures. Certain large companies would shut down some of their factories rather than spend millions of dollars to bring them into compliance with antipollution regulations.

Those living in industrial areas would like to see an end to excessive noise, smoke and grit. But businessmen ask: ‘What if the factories were to close down? While pollution would be curbed, unemployment problems would wreck the economy of the community.’ So, despite known hazards, large-scale pollution is allowed to continue.

Many other examples could be cited. But they all point to one conclusion: We today are experiencing the composite effect of the mistakes that individuals, organizations and nations have made throughout the centuries. The problems that the present system has produced are global and threaten our very existence. On August 2, 1974, at the twentieth World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, Dr. George Wald noted: “Human life is now threatened as never before, not by one but by many perils, each in itself capable of destroying us, but all interrelated, and all coming upon us together.”