The world would be a better place without hunger and thirst. By this I mean, the hunger and thirst for power, control, food, drink, success, possessions basically, the hunger and thirst for more.

In the absence of hunger and thirst people will get on better with each other. Even the animals would get along in their habitat.

The need for power and control has led the world to the chaos it is in now. Wars are being fought all across the globe to the point where people forget why they were started in the first place. President George W Bush daubed the war his country is currently engaged in as the war on terror'. Osama bin Laden is fighting a holy Jihad. One would be forgiven for thinking these guys were fighting separate wars. The Iraqi rebels would undoubtedly have their own name for the mayhem.

In the tiny country of Sierra Leone, West Africa, a decade long brutal civil war, in which innocent citizens had their limbs hacked off by so-called rebels intoxicated with drugs was fought on the premise that the rebels wanted to liberate the country from the hands of a corrupt regime. It has now transpired that the former president of neighboring Liberia, Charles Taylor, is in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity for his part in the Sierra Leone war. Why would a Liberian president be interested in supporting unpopular rebels to wage a war on its own people? You've guessed right for power and control of the diamond fields. These guys were not rebels but glorified bandits.

Wouldn't it be great if all life forms could exist without the need to eat or drink? Lions would hang out with deer, snakes with frogs and man with man. In the under-developed nations in particular, the need to eat and drink is a chief motivator for people's actions. People wake up in the morning with absolutely no idea of where their next meal is coming from. In order to survive, they are forced to be dishonest, corrupt or do degrading things. Ideals and values are compromised as a means of survival.

The feeling of success or perceived success is a wonderful one. It is almost intoxicating and addictive. It could give rise to a greater need for success. Success could be achieved through talent, luck, hard work and determination. One could also achieve success by eliminating competition fairly or unfairly. It's the unfairly bit that is undesirable. The quest for success could lead to lies, deceit or even murder. If the need for success was inexistent, people might get along better.

Possessions could mean property, money, clothes, jewelery and the like. Family feuds can stem generations because of the hunger and thirst for more. The world would have little or no armed robbery, murder, court cases and even wars if the need for possessions wasn't so great.

Having said that, if the hunger and thirst for more did not exist, would I have been born? Would we enjoy sports so much? Where would humans be living now? One wonders.

Learn more about this author, Festus Sowah.
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