What can you do? Ask not what your country can do for you

Every day when I wake up I realize how indebted I am to my fellow human beings. Every item in my house has been deigned and build by somebody else. The bed. The kitchen table. The toaster. The microwave. The kettle. My clothes.

I can sew my own clothes, run up a caftan with two seams and cut a V-shape neck. But somebody else designed the sewing machine. A factory worked built it. A store sold it. The fabric was woven and printed by somebody else.

I can grow apples in my garden. An awful lot of work. Somebody planted the apple tree for me. My gardener mows the lawn. To stop the apples getting worms, I have to spray the tree with pesticide or washing up liquid (controversy here). Either way, somebody else packaged it.

My car, the train, bus or plane - I could walk. Using shoes that somebody else made. And somebody else made the pavement. First I must lock up - but somebody else made the keys, and the door.

Even the poorest person must realize that in great-great-grandfather's day we had outside toilets and no electric lights.

Yes, camping might be fun for a week. You can go out to enjoy nature, trekking or climbing Everest, using crampons made in a factory. Calling on the emergency services for help. Wearing goggles.

Native tribes live in jungles. Most native people have a life expectancy of 30 years.
Most of the world is complaining that the west isn't helping them enough. They can't seem to cope on their own. Why? Can't they grown their own food and make their own clothes and build their own homes?

Americans arrived in a land without cities and built cities. Americans had to cope with the economic Depression of the thirties and came out of it.

Singapore started with very little late in the last century. Lee Kwan Yew eliminated corruption and got the place organized. Now Singapore's ahead of most of Asia and much of the West. A garden city, free of crime and litter.

I think lots of the world's problems would be solved if children and citizens started with the point of view that they need to develop their skills until they can find something to offer the world.

Full employment. Some sensible parents say to their children: Don't just sit there - do something!

Whether you are tidying your bedroom, sweeping the street, making a cup of tea for somebody else, learning to sing in tune, designing a dress, or a computer system, or performing brain surgery, you can be playing your part to make the world a better place for yourself and everybody you know.