Chapter 12: Saving the World
Quincy woke up the next morning and went through his morning routine. At school that day he noticed many things that he was sure he had been overlooking. For one thing, he realized that the students treated the teachers horribly. After discovering what cuss words were, he couldn’t help but notice the multiple times that teachers were cussed out by students. Luckily the desks were too heavy to throw far or the teachers might be much less likely to survive a day. He could not believe how awful the students were. And yet it was clear the teachers were expected to just accept this behavior and go on with their attempts to teach the students.
All day long he heard students talking about sex and drugs. And the teachers heard these conversations but did nothing to stop them. It was as if everyone accepted that the world was messed up and that there was nothing anyone could do about it. He wondered if there were still people who wished they could fix the problems he saw.
After the school day ended, Quincy decided he would stop by the college near where he lived. He had always heard what a wonderful school the University of Pennsylvania is, and he hoped he could find someone there who could get him started on his mission to save the world. The only problem was figuring out whom to talk to. He thought about all the different departments and finally decided that the History Department was probably the place to start. He figured they studied all the problems of the past and how each was overcome and so possibly they would have an answer.
The first office he came to had a gold plated sign on the door reading: Dr. Rush. Quincy figured this would be as good a place as any to get started, so he knocked on the door. From within came an old and frail sounding voice, “Come in.”
As he opened the door, Quincy observed an elderly, thin looking man. His face looked weathered, but there was something hopeful in his eyes.
“What is it that I can do for you young man? You don’t appear to be old enough to be in college, so I assume you are not a student that I haven’t noticed.”
“No sir, I’m still in high school, but was in need of some help. I’ve come to the realization that the world had gone to hell and I want to do something about it.”
“You remind me of my old friend Mr. Adams and I. We spent the entirety of our lives trying to ensure the world would be a better place when we died. My first piece of advice to you is don’t expect anyone to thank or appreciate you. If you are doing this to win the goodwill of others, you will surely fail in that pursuit. People never appreciate those who dedicate themselves to the betterment of others. Though, they do worship those who claim that the betterment of others is their goal while truly being nothing more than self-serving meglomaniacs. Being sure that this is not your goal is a good first step.”
“I don’t care if anyone appreciates me, nor do I want fame. The truth is, until yesterday, I was under the impression that we live in a perfect world. And when I realized that it is far from so, I knew I had to do something about it.”
“You should read Candide. This world is far from the best of all worlds. But there is hope. I must admit I lose hope from time to time, but then something like this happens.”
“Something like what?” asked Quincy, who was wondering where he had put his rescued copy of Candide.
“You come in and remind me that there are people who are willing to try and make a difference in this world. If more people like you were to step forward and try to help out, things would get better. We may never have a perfect world, but we can do our best to get as close to such as possible. And people like you restore my faith that we might still get there.” Dr. Rush smiled, but then remembered that Quincy had come for guidance.
“Well, my young friend, you want my advice on how to save the world? Start small. Imagine you are traveling with a large group and are trying to get somewhere and then a mountain got in your way. If you decide to try and eliminate the mountain but no one will help you it will seem hopeless. But if your goal is simply to clear as much dirt as you can per day, you will never lose hope because you will always achieve your goal. And you will find that others desire to clear the mountain as well, but simply believed that there was no point in even trying. What you will find is that people will feed on your strength. Despite what many believe, people would like to make this world a better place, they just don’t realize that their little part could make a difference. What they need is a leader, someone to demonstrate that every little effort helps. And if that doesn’t work, at least you’ve done your part. And that is the sure fire way to die content. And you could even set off a chain reaction.”
“I think I know what you mean. It’s easy to get discouraged by the big picture, the realization that there is so much left to do. And then it seems easier just to give up rather than to fail trying, but at least you have a chance of succeeding if you try. If you don’t try, you’ve already failed. You’ve failed to try.”
“Well, seems like you needed my help less than you thought. I wish I could chat longer, but I have a meeting with the brilliant Dr. Larkin in a few minutes, but I wish you the best of luck.”
Quincy left Dr. Rush’s office feeling inspired. He was ready to take on the world. Now he just needed to decide exactly how to get started.
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