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A toast to not repeating history's mistakes

Anonymous

November 29, 2024

A toast to not repeating history's mistakes

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Dear future self,
We are currently living in times of great civil unrest. We see the atrocities committed around the world driven by a quest for more power, resources, productivity, success at the cost of another. Inequity is rampant and we are all victims of this as we live lives hoping for financial and physical freedom near the end of it.

Dear future self,
I hope you are living in a time post a transformation, with a new world order. I hope you are living in a time where transparency is rampant in political decision making and equity truely thrives. I hope you are living in a time where historically marginalised groups can represent themselves when policies and corporate decisions affect them (both positively and negatively). I hope you are living in a time where we are aware of and taking care of both the negative and positive externalities of our human actions on nature, where circularity is the norm and that we are truely regenerative - leaving a place thriving further than how we found it. I hope you are living in a time where the knowledge of traditional custodians of the land is prioritised, and a mind-body-spirit-place connection is restored. I hope technology is leveraged for the collective good, rather than a tool to build wealth for a few. I hope community has replaced the individualism that currently seeks to divide and conquer us. And I hope that colonialism in a macro scale, a micro scale, and in our minds is abolished and that we have learned from history's mistakes not to repeat its narratives.

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hallo
Zaļā un inovatīvā kopiena
I imagine that by 2040 Europe will have become a model of sustainable development, where technology and nature coexist harmoniously. Cities will be green and energy efficient, every building will have solar panels and vertical gardens. Public transport will be fully electric and emission-free, and citizens will travel by autonomous vehicles or bicycles. People will be actively involved in decision-making through smart city technologies and e-democracy tools.
hallo
Notre planète, une priorité absolue
In 2040, the world will finally have realized that our earth is the priority and that it must be protected, but after all these years of political and economic amnesia about protecting our planet, biodiversity and water, I really hope that in 2040, we'll get there. For this future, I want an awareness that man is not the king of the universe and that all forms of life have the right to exist and be protected. I want: beautiful forests with diverse species, large mammals that are no longer on endangered species lists, clean rivers that are no longer channeled, agriculture that respects the soil, insects and therefore people.
hallo
EU der offen Zukunft
Europe a common country that stands for progress and freedom. Where people, regardless of their ethnic origin, can live and develop freely and where there are no more dictatorships and autocracies that continue to restrict life here. The former right-wing populism has become history and there is now only a Europe without borders and without individual states with open borders to the outside. The EU with Russia and Ukraine is one of the most important players in the world and there are no more trade wars with the USA and China. Climate protection is on track, the economy is booming and everyone is very happy to live in the European Union of the future. That would be my chosen future
hallo
So könnte eine vernünftige Zukunft aussehen
The focus must remain on migration, economic and social policy, and the voice of the citizen must be heard, possibly through referendums. The gap between rich and poor must close again and utopian salaries, whether in sport or politics, must be abolished. We need to return to our values, become less demanding and include the weaker members of society, because everyone is needed. School education needs to be completely overhauled, it can't go on like this. Cell phones do not belong in the classroom. People who look after people in a private atmosphere, be it children, the sick or the elderly, must be given credit for their time. The same applies to voluntary work in clubs, the fire department, etc. Everything must be distributed more fairly, then neither greed nor envy will arise. We should also pay more attention to the fact that the food industry is pushing food that makes us ill, which is really impossible. All in all, we should work more again, then we won't have bad thoughts. All problems are self-made.
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