Kameron Martin
Bachelor of Business – Management Information Systems
University of West Georgia

A Better World

My family was religious growing up, yet I did not see my spiritual awakening until my sophomore year. I was in between bad decisions and peer influences when a friend invited me to his church. As a dedicated Christian, I will fall under Mr. Desmarquet’s first type of reader. The underlying message in the story is more potent than the factuality.

This message conveys a guideline towards happiness and prosperity through spiritual enlightenment. Throughout the book, the reader can see numerous accounts of society failing due to greed, pride, and envy. On Bakaratini, war decimated the population to merely a couple hundred. The corruption of the evil priests destroyed the Holy City on Earth. Even today, certain politicians are offering false promises for extra votes in hopes of personal agendas. Lobbyist corporations are funding these politicians who agree with their incentives through donations. These issues were all created by our need for money. In ESV, 1 Timothy 6.10 of the Christian Bible, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” As a person of color living in Atlanta, I see many of my colleagues controlled by the desire to show the impression of power. People would buy the newest shoes, cars, and clothes while unable to pay rent. They would then post them on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to appear successful. As if we should define our self-worth on the material possessions we own. This unhealthy attachment towards material items can be associated with our love for money. Furthermore, as a society, we will never reach spiritual enlightenment with our love for money. As Thao once said, “the solution depends on love – not money.”

To promote a better world, we need to increase spiritual awareness by providing a haven, decreasing negative influences, and expressing love. I have deleted all my social media accounts to combat personal negative influences; However, millions of people expose themselves to harmful desires for the spirit, such as violence and hate. I am proposing to tap into the social media world for positive reinforcements. A new non-profit app would not be finished this year, but the premise is a social media app for contributions to society. The app would be called Village in allusion to the common saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The purpose of the app would be to connect with people through volunteer opportunities and charities. You can post your previous experiences or even show future planned events. Also, there would be no type of upvote, like, or love buttons. By having a like count, people will compare themselves to others in a harmful way leading back towards envy. Ads and sponsors will pay for the servers. It could also contain education tools that are generally not provided, such as a financial literacy tool that teaches taxes, credit, and interest. By creating an environment that is exclusively for positivity and love, we will help promote a better world and guide others towards spiritual enlightenment.

Runner-up of A Better World" Spirituality and Technology Advancement Scholarship for 2020