Where do you fall on the societal continuum?

Whose responsibility is it to ensure that our society stays on the right path? I would argue that, with each passing year, more and more eyes look to government, whether it be federal, state or local when problems arise. We look to this small group of elected citizens to bail us out no matter the cause or size of the problem. It seems that we feel the best way to solve problems is through legislation or regulation. Would it not make more sense to have every citizen make small contributions (not $$) to the greater good? It seems to me that millions of people working together with a common vision can have far greater success than a couple hundred Congressmen tasked with "solving" hundreds of problems at once.

I question whether the time will ever come in which we all step back and realize what we are doing to our society and to our country. Greed is so pervasive that it's becoming hard to recognize. It's almost expected these days. Selfishness is no longer discouraged or looked down upon. We are simply becoming numb to our transgressions in a world where we are bombarded by stimuli of all kinds, leaving us constantly thirsting for more.

The local newspaper website includes forums for the community to engage in all kinds of conversations. Many of the conversations become quickly dominated by whining and complaining. On a couple of occasions, I have attempted to get discussions started about how we can improve our local community to allow it to become a vibrant place we can all be proud of. I am no longer surprised when these posts generate no interest. The reason is because the problems of the community and the world are someone else's problems. If they continue long enough, they become the government's problems.

I hope everyone reading this will look in the proverbial mirror and ask themselves what role they are currently playing in society and whether more can be done. There is a continuum that we all fall on. At one side are those that cause problems and harm society. The other end includes those that devote large amounts of time to solving societal problems they themselves did not create. I imagine if we graphed it, it would resemble a bell-shaped curve with most of us falling in the indifferent middle.

So my question is this: What are you doing to make society better for all? Are you going to sit back and watch greed and selfishness rule the day, or are you going to dedicate at least a small amount of your time to making a real difference. While I have never died before, I am confortable stating that you will die happier and with more dignity if you know that you added to society as opposed to taking away from it.