but i'm not exactly thinking about poverty when i'm devising a plan to make my rich client even richer. i'm creating wealth, and one, we're born to be self-interested entities, and secondly, by creating wealth i'm creating more job opportunities, and also more wealth to give to the needy for that matter.
and i'm not exactly thinking about the steroid-juiced cows howling for dear life when i'm enjoying that perfectly marbled steak. i am at the top of the food chain after all, and i'm allowed to eat anything i want. and the animals were long dead before they arrived on my plate.
and i'm definitely not thinking of oil spills, leveled forests, giant mines amidst pristine wilderness when i'm playing with the latest i-thing from apple. just because i don't use or buy that new thing isn't going to change a single thing.
i'd like to think we're not quite as extreme in defending our views, but i'm pretty sure we don't have the mental capacity to spend every waking moment understanding the impact of our every action. take my cellphone - is it even possible to trace how each component came into being? who assembled it, was he/she exposed to all sorts of pollutants? were any rare earths used, did they have to uproot entire villages and blast ugly giant holes to obtain those?
can the starting question be as simple as, where did it come from?
surely, there will be many out there who have no sense of curiosity and will simply consume and simply not care. but i think, with information just a couple clicks away, there may be enough curiosity out there to do some digging, to solve that little mystery.
but perhaps that's one way to start thinking. take our favorite possession. how much do we know about it? how did it come into existence? where did they get the raw materials? at the expense of what? are we ok with it?
