Hello @ladyofliberty. I've been thinking along similar lines. The way I see it, most of us have been conditioned to see the responsibility for fixing all of society's problems as falling on the government's shoulders. (This attitude can be found among both "conservatives" and "liberals".) To me, that's like a pilot expecting tailwinds to do all the work of getting the plane to its destination. A plane needs fuel, and for society, that fuel is us - what we do and how we treat each other as individuals. And as you said, what we do in the world is preceded by what goes on in our heads. This is why I'm such a proponent of people discovering their purpose in life. It isn't just about them and their own fulfilment. Much of the world's ills can be traced back to the insecurity of individuals, and it's a lot easier to be secure in oneself if one has a strong sense of knowing that they, and everyone else, has value because they were put in this life for a reason (even if they don't know yet what that reason is). And I believe Steemit is a venue where a community of folks who want to find themselves and make the world a better place can be cultivated.