Issues of the Day - Mine and What are Yours?

In this Presidential election year, candidates are talking about a variety of issues.  In this world there are numerous issues to address.  What are the most important issues?  Well, it depends on whom you ask.  We all have experiences, biases, likes, and dislikes that determine what we care about in this world.  It would be difficult for 10 people let alone millions of voters to come up with a list of top 10 issues that were the  exact same in terms of priority.  Sure, you might get the same 10 issues in a different order of priority.  From my personal views these would be the top issues of the day.

1.  Development of a mental health policies to assist in helping people not to become a danger to themselves and others;
2.  Protecting people against terrorists of all kinds;
3.  Rebuilding infrastructures in communities;
4.  Developing relationships with other countries;
5.  Taking care of the environment;
6.  Caring for the elderly;
7.  Finding the cure for cancer;
8.  Improving deficient educational systems;
9.  Outlawing "hate" groups.
10. Finding a mechanism to truly listen to the concerns of people and responding to those concerns.

What all my issues have in common is that investing in any one of them has the benefit of helping a variety of people.  Each issue does not have a selfish economic benefit for me personally.  Instead resolution of any of the issues has the benefit of making conditions better in a variety of ways in this world.  For example, improving educational systems will assist people to develop natural gifts or learn new skills that will make them marketable to one day obtain a job.  Finding the cure for cancer will save many families from the grief of losing loved ones.  Taking care of the environment is something we should be doing as this world was originally given to us by our Creator for us to maintain it.  Developing relationships with other countries reduces the suspicions and fears we have of each other and helps to bring us to realize that we are all connected. Then maybe we can expand our ability to solve problems if we work together.

Many people get involved in addressing an issue based on the impact the issue had in their lives. For example, someone whose parent(s) had Alzheimer's may get involved in fundraising work to find a cure for Alzheimer's.  Another person may get involved in an organization based on an illness that impacted a loved one or family member. Personal experiences often are a huge factor in what we become involved with or care about.  There is nothing wrong with being influenced by a life event to "care" about an issue or a cause.  We gain knowledge during the events that causes us to care.

I challenge you to think about the top 10 issues that you care about and why.