I can't help but think about everything wrong with the world we live in. The never ending conflict, tyranny, oppression and hardship that plagues our planet. In my mind's eye countries, indeed entire regions have blended into continents in a perpetual tug of war.

Babies are born into unjust societies, robbed of a chance to truly live before they've even taken their first breath. Children are forced by circumstance to become breadwinners, defenders of their families and societies - all before they have even tasted adolescence.

Liberators who once offered a ray of hope reveal themselves to be the devil in disguise. One man takes the life of another because of the name of his tribe, the colour of his skin, the god to whom he prays, for financial gain, to "settle" grievances that began before any of us can even remember.

I spare a thought for the challenges of the world today. I feel compelled to help make it better. And then I come back to reality. There is little economic incentive for the world to care about the people of Eastern DRC. There is no political motivation for intervention in Zimbabwe. Israel and Palestine may never find a mutually agreeable solution. The conflict in Darfur has been around so long that much of the world now takes its existence as a given. And so the list goes on.


So many problems. None without solution. All merely lacking a sense of common will and purpose from those in power today.

I am only one man. I cannot change the world alone and I understand this.

But that will not stop me working towards a better world. My only fear is that I may be alone in my ambition. And all my tomorrows will be as today. Set against the backdrop of a bruised and battered planet, a world shamefully shy of its infinite potential. A world unable to fulfill the simple promise of a good life for all.