MAIN - Part I

As some one some where said “knowing what is half the battle”, let us first focus on the what.

We can do a “What’s that ?” test. As we go, you’ll understand how it works. We said we have not yet achieved true modernism. What’s that… ? Well, true modernism works for betterment of the society at large. What’s that… ? The betterment of society is all inclusive and it means equal opportunities for all, including those who are currently underprivileged. What’s that… ? That means equal opportunities of pursuing total fulfillment. What’s that… ? Total fulfillment entails emotional, material & intellectual fulfillment and that comes from equality of thought. What’s that… ? Equality of thought is equality at formative rearing. What’s that… ? That is equality of learning & development opportunities ? What’s that ? To be specific, that is equality of education at the primary & secondary levels. So, the what here is the epic challenge of providing primary & secondary education to nearly one billion children living in poverty in today’s world, nearly half the total child population on the planet.

Is it possible to achieve ? Can someone really do it ? If yes, who is that some one ? Can the governments of the world do it ? Or the NGO’s ? Or Unicef ? If yes, then what stopped them until now. There is no doubt that all of them can contribute extensively. But, the scale of the issue is such that it requires a much bigger force to address it, a force multiplier. Who is that force ? Well, there is nothing supernatural about it. It’s a well established force that drives our contemporary world on most frontiers. It’s what drives the governments, has carved our history and continues to get stronger with every passing chapter of human evolution. It’s the strongest yet the most oblivious force in the world today. It’s unaware of both its colossal power and it’s most vital interests. This force is the very basis of the immense scale of the issue at hand. It’s the force of the people of this world, of you and me.

Now comes the biggest question of all, of how. How can the who achieve the what ? How can the oblivious be elightened to its virtue ? To answer that we need to look at the source of people’s power, where it stems from and what makes it tick.

For me the power of people lies in two things. The first one is the power of scale, the unmatchable strength of numbers that can make even the most gargantuan problems appear incredibly manageable. All big tasks in our world are accomplished by the sheer power of numbers. All major governments of the world are formed by ballot from the masses. All global organizations function only with the help of a vast global workforce. Big investments have the ability to wobble the markets with their moves. Nations feel safe only when they have an army of men protecting the borders. The fastest growing economies today have managed to turn the tables only with an increased participation from a larger strata of society.

The other raison d’etre is the power of team, each member in it with their unique set of strengths, working collaboratively to make the end result exponentially better than the sum of the parts. It’s like a machine consisting of individual parts, each on its own worthless, but together virtually running the whole show today.