The Influence Of Our Social Environment

Our social environment has a big influence on us:

1. DIVORCE: There was a time when divorce was considered socially unacceptable. Today, divorce is common place. At 70%, Belgium has the highest divorce rate. The divorce rates is over 60% in Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Hungary. In the USA, it's 53%. [1]
2. WOMEN VOTING: There was a time when women weren't allowed to vote and that was considered socially acceptable. Things began to change in late 19th century, through the 20th century and things are still changing today, with recent changes taking place in Saudi Arabia. [2]
3. SLAVERY: There was a time when slavery was considered socially acceptable. Today, slavery is considered socially unacceptable and is outlawed in every country.[3]
• However, slavery still persists today with almost 30 million slaves worldwide in countries such as India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Mauritania, Haiti, Nepal and others. [4]
• The slavery industry generates over $30 billion annually. [5]
• Round tables should be established to address slavery and to seek to eliminate it entirely.
4. SELFISHNESS: Today, we're immersed in selfishness, seeking to benefit ourselves with no regard for others, and this is considered socially acceptable. We have to change from personal selfishness to mutual bestowal. We have to rise above our egos, stop harming others, then seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. We have to get to a place where we consider selfishness socially unacceptable.

Our social environment has a big influence on us and it affects how we behave and the things we consider to be socially acceptable and socially unacceptable.

We need to build a new society based on the quality of bestowal. We need to get to a place where we consider the quality of bestowal acceptable and the quality of selfishness unacceptable.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

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References:

1. Engel, Pamela (May 25, 2014). "MAP: Divorce Rates Around The World". www.businessinsider.com. Retrieved Sept 11, 2014.
2. Women's suffrage. www.en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved Sept 11, 2014.
3. Slavery. www.en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved Sept 11, 2014.
4. The Global Slavery Index 2013. www.globalslaveryindex.org. Retrieved Sept 11, 2014.
5. Goudie, Mary (July 15, 2013). "Slavery is a $32bn industry so why aren't we following the money trail?" www.theguardian.com. Retrieved Sept 11, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.