Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The 10 Commandments of Responsible Living

A long time ago I used to always make it a point to pick up a free local magazine named Catalyst each and every month. Then it dropped out of view. At least it dropped out of my view.  Not sure if they are still publishing or not... But going through the junk from my storage room where all the stuff I didn't want to deal with when I moved got stashed I found some clippings I'd kept from old Catalysts. The following is from the one in February 2007 where they quoted from a book, You Can Change The World: The Global Citizen's Handbook for Living on Planet Earth by Ervin Laszlo, published in 2003.

Ervin Laszlo is (or was) the president and founder of the Club of Budapest, a little known association of creative world leaders in art, literature, and the spiritual domains of culture.  It was founded in 1993 and dedicated to the proposition that only by changing ourselves will we be able to change the world.

Live in a way that satisfies your needs without detracting from the opportunity of other people to satisfy theirs.
Live in a way that respects the right to life and development of all other people, wherever they live, and whatever their ethnic origin, sex, citizenship, and belief system.
Live in a way that safeguards the right to life and a healthy environment of all the things that live and grow on this Earth.
Pursue happiness, freedom and personal fulfilment in consideration of the similar pursuits of your fellows in the community, country and culture, and in the global community of all peoples, countries, and cultures.
Do your best to help those less priviledged than you to live without hunger and penury, whether they live next door to you or in another part of the world.
Join like-minded people to preserve or restore the integrity of the environment so that it can generate and regenerate the resources esential of human life and well-being.
Help children and young to discover sustainable ways of thinking and acting on their own.
Ask your government to deal peacefully and cooperatively with other nations and cultures, recognizing the legitimate aspirations for a better life and life-supporting environment of all the peoples, countries and cultures of the world.
Patronize businesses that produce goods and offer services that satisfy your needs and the needs of other people without impairing the environment and widening the gap between rich and poor in your community and the world at large.
Give preference to newspapers and magazines, television and radio programs and internet sites that provide regular and reliable information on the trends and events that affect your life, and help you and others around you make informed decisions on crucial issues affecting your future.

Not a bad code of ethics for living...

1 comment:

latter-daymom said...

Wonderful thoughts. Thank you for sharing, Kathy!