lilu

Erehwon. Can you read this word backwards? The Word Utopia has its origin from the Greek: “ou-topos”, in which ou means ‘not’ and topos means ‘place’, or nowhere. The Thesaurus defines it as “an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.” The first time this word was used, was in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. Throughout history, men and women have dreamed about a perfect world and a perfect society and many have devoted their lives to this cause, in an attempt of making something real out of this dream. As a result, new societies were created, following the model of utopian communities in which equality was paramount. What they wanted to achieve was a perfect society with no private property and no poverty; one in which physical and mental labor would be equally important, one in which men were all the same; perfect and happy. Whatever the good intentions of all these new societies were, failure was a forgone conclusion since they didn’t have a well-developed financial plan in which housing, farming, education and health could be implemented, and since it was impossible to force equality into men and women that weren’t equal. Creating a perfect world in a world where nobody is perfect is most likely an impossible dream. Considering human nature, always vulnerable to evil and corruption and living in a world of globalization, in which no society can ever be in complete isolation, utopian societies are nothing but a beautiful fairy tale. There is always room left for being better, one person at a time and one day at a time, in each one’s heart.
Being exposed to the horrors of violence and terrorism, to the injustices that men, women and children are subject to, make us constantly dream of the day in which all those bad things that happen every minute will only exist in our memory. We hope for children to be healthy, educated and happy, we hope to see everyone living with dignity, without fear, having the opportunity to develop their talents and their capabilities for everyone’s wellbeing. We would like corruption to disappear from governments and public servants, and see the money from taxes and charity, going where it’s supposed to go and not to bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland or the Bahamas. But can we really make it all disappear? Haven’t hundred’s of thinkers, politicians and dreamers gone out there with braveness and determination hoping to be the first ones to bring lasting happiness to society? We are not gods and we are not perfect, we can be good one minute and then really bad the next. Even Mother Teresa of Calcutta had that experience. Even she doubted her faith; even she had her moments of weakness and despair. Then how are we supposed to believe that only with good intentions and a piece of land, one man or a group of honest and devoted persons will be able to create a perfect society? Even if they succeeded in the attempt of living in isolation, away from the sins of capitalism and consumption, in a place where everyone was equal and there was no private “anything”, even with these conditions, the constant threats that suppose being part of the world itself, and just being what we are, fallible human beings who are always vulnerable to change and mistakes, make it almost impossible to have a lasting utopia.
What we as human beings need to understand, is that sadness, mistakes, evil, and problems, are always going to exist. That’s our whole reason for being down here in the world; to overcome all those difficulties and fight against the bad things that are always present; being able to defeat and start over again is part of our mission. That’s what’s beautiful about life, that even amid all the bad, most of us never give up, and we keep dreaming about the perfect world, which we won’t be able to see in this life, but maybe in the next one to come.
I do believe that we can be better, more generous, loving, humble human beings, but this cannot be imposed. Each person can take the determination and preside over his or her own actions to become more just and tolerant, more peaceful and kind; but this can’t be possible if it doesn’t grow in us a real, authentic need to be good; good men and women, good husbands and wives. If we don’t start by creating a “perfect home” first, we can’t even think about creating a perfect community, country or world. If we don’t start by creating a perfect “I” first, then we can’t think about anything else.