Tell us one thing about the world that you strongly believe is true but that most people think is not true.
I believe there is no God. Anyone with a love for objective truth must begin by believing there is no God and then look for evidence of God. One must search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power before proclaiming the existence of a deity. I have searched for evidence of God, but I’ve found none, so I have taken the logical leap of faith and definitively proclaimed my belief: I believe there is no God.
This proclamation characterizes every moment of my life. Instead of praying, I appreciate that which I already have and spend my time engaged in material improvement. Prayer, when a form of begging this invisible for more, seems rude. No God means that I have to be satisfied with my life and am thus predisposed to appreciate what I have. I’m not a glutton. I have ski slopes, sunsets, rainy days, and emoticons—and that’s got to be enough. The love of my friends and family is enough that I don’t need heaven. Praying for divine assistance is pointless. Instead of asking God for help, I take action. I needn’t pray for a 4.0 GPA when my time would be better spent studying. No God means I take action when I want to see results, and I get joy everyday.
Believing there is no God means I live by the words of Edith Piaf: Je ne regrette rien. Living with no regrets means I don’t have to worry about final judgment; instead I worry about doing the right thing. Since nothing I will ever say or do will change my actions and I cannot be forgiven, I must treat people right the first time around. I can only be forgiven by the kindness of humanity or the odd case of amnesia. That’s brilliant. Because I only have one shot at life, it makes me want to be more thoughtful. No God means I life every moment to the fullest, and I am forced to do the right thing on the first try—I have no second chances.
No God means that I can take risks without clearing every action with the divine. Instead of asking, “Is this okay, God?” when I choose which classes to take at college, I am empowered to make such decisions myself. This empowerment means that I must think analytically to decide for which risks the potential gain is worth more than the potential loss. Not asking God’s permission allows me to be adaptable and in control of my own destiny. This flexibility ability allows me to take advantage of opportunities that avail themselves with little warning: instead of waiting for divine assent, I make executive decisions. Believing there is no God allows to me to think independently and critically about my life.
Without God, I have no one to blame but myself. Instead of passing the buck to the supernatural, I take responsibility for my actions. I accept the consequences of my actions and analyze my mistakes. Because of I don’t subscribe to a divine authority, I have been forced to develop my own ethical guidelines. Thus, I am forced to think about the long-term consequences of my actions before I act. While no God means that I have no one to blame, it also means that I see positive actions as having worldly origins. Instead of giving God credit for fixing my broken arm, I credit doctors who performed the surgery. No God means I take responsibility for my actions, develop my own moral code, and appreciate the actions of others.
I am not a solipsist. I appreciate, understand, and respect all different people from all different cultures. I believe that learning is infinite and that my personal enlightenment will never be complete. If I were to find positive evidence for the existence of God—or proof of an alternate truth for any belief I hold—my beliefs would change. Since I’m always eager to learn, I can accept others’ viewpoints, move beyond perceived differences, and truly communicate. My personal views do not interfere with professional relationships. Without God, everyone is equal and I can learn from all those around me. I can concentrate on human interaction, which in most situations is more important than a relationship with God. No God means that we can agree on reality without worrying about pleasing the metaphysical, making communication more effective.
I am an optimist. No God means that all the suffering I have seen in loved ones, and indeed all the suffering in the world, is not caused by some omnipotent deity who is “just testing” the human race, but is rather caused by worldly origins. This attribution to worldly origins means that we can identify the causes of suffering and make changes. Without God there is the possibility of less suffering in the future. I know that my actions, however small, are significant, and I am inspired to help the world. Instead of leaving the fate of the world to the hands of a deity, I can make the world that I know—here and now—a better place for us all to live.
Believing there is no God forces me to challenge the status quo, think innovatively, take measured risks, be adaptable, act logically, communicate effectively, and take responsibility for my actions. I am not constrained to thinking within a divine system of order: I can dream audaciously and flaunt non-conformity. No God leaves more room for belief in family, love, friends, truth, passion, the Internet and everything else on this earth.
How do you want to change the world?
On May 27th 2008, a foggy Tuesday morning at the SFO Airport, I boarded American Airlines flight 24 to Paris. This was not my first trip to Europe, but this time I was flying solo. For the next five months, I would live with a host family in France, disconnected from my family.
A year later in June 2009, I was at UCLA participating in the Summer Business Institute. A major component of the program was the completion of a business plan and pitch deck in competition with other Southern California schools. Initially, I was stumped as to how I’d fill fifty pages about an imaginary business. Then I thought back to living in France and recalled that I had almost been prevented from going by the cost of plane tickets. The barrier to my global experience had been the cost of transportation. As I reflected on my time in France, I considered what I would have missed if I hadn’t been able to afford the flight. Whilst living in France, I discovered that the most valuable outcome of studying abroad was the introspective abilities I gained to analyze my own culture, society, and language. I learned more from my five months in France than from ten years of traditional education and returned with a global perspective on life.
The qualities I developed in France—flexibility, awareness, curiosity, responsibility, self-direction—are invaluable in today’s global world. No longer is it acceptable to understand the paradigm of a single country or speak one language; rather it is necessary to be bilingual and multicultural to succeed in the twenty-first century. Education must become global. I believe the best way to foster global human improvement is to encourage everyone to travel abroad, to experience cultures different from their own. The larger the cultural differences, the greater the learning potential. The barrier to this idealized vision of global education is not a lack of will to travel, but rather the means to do so. The cost of traveling internationally is not affordable for households who earn even the national median income of $44,389.
I encourage traveling abroad not only in furtherance of an idealized vision for world peace, but because I believe traveling abroad allows individuals to develop the skills necessary to succeed in today’s global environment. By empowering everyone to have international experiences, develop these skills, and change the world, human improvement will come about on a larger scale than if I were to act individually. The continued existence of the human race on planet earth requires the cooperation of all nations. Such international understanding will be impossible if today’s youth do not receive a global education. Narrow-mindedness caused by a lack of global experience is detrimental to nations. North Korea is an example of the damage isolationism brings: because its citizens are not free to travel, experience life abroad, and bring about domestic reforms, North Korea has pushed the world to the brink of war.
I want to change the world by creating a low-cost transatlantic airline, Eutopia Airways, allowing everyone the chance to travel abroad and gain a global perspective on life.
Low-cost airlines exist both in the United States—Southwest and JetBlue—and in Europe—RyanAir and EasyJet, but there is no link between the two continents. Eutopia Airways will revolutionize international travel by providing a low-cost link between these continents. Due to existing demand, it is most feasible to begin servicing these continents, but I envision a low-cost airline network connecting the entire world. This is not impossible. Low-cost airlines have been successful domestically: Southwest has been profitable for 37 consecutive years. I will take the model Southwest has refined and apply it to the transatlantic marketplace. Airlines such as Southwest currently do not operate international flights because to do so their entire fleet and crew would have to obtain ETOPS Certification, a costly procedure. Since the majority of Southwest’s flights would remain domestic, this would be a waste of money. Eutopia will be able to operate low-cost international flights because Eutopia will only operate international flights: the cost of ETOPS will not be wasted on domestic flights.
I have developed a detailed plan for Eutopia over the last year, in consultation with aviation experts around the world. I’ve talked with Boeing’s Startup Airline Consultancy and exchanged emails with airport authorities (JFK, LGW, CDG, FRA). I’ve spoken with representatives from Row44 (inflight wifi) and consulted with Swissport about cargo costs. I’ve obtained quotes from catering services and software providers. I’ve corresponded with Southwest’s Director of Alliances, who confirmed their interest in codesharing, and visited Southwest Airlines Headquarters. This research has confirmed the feasibility of my plan.
Eutopia will use the tenets of the low-cost business model—flying a single aircraft family, utilizing secondary airports, and using a single-class seating arrangement. In addition to these operational advantages, Eutopia will provide excellent customer service: this is the differentiator that has propelled Southwest to international acclaim. Average fares on Eutopia—all fees included—are estimated to be about $450 roundtrip from New York to London, about 50% below average market prices. (The exact figure for current average fares is classified)
Starting an airline is neither the simplest way to change the world, nor is it the cheapest, but it will have the greatest impact. I believe that any other attempt to globalize education would only be temporary and superficial at best. The experiences one has and the skills one learns abroad are impossible to teach in the classroom. Education must become global in order to ensure the success of humanity in today’s interconnected world. I believe that by lowering the cost of international travel, everyone will have the chance to go abroad and gain a global perspective on life. Traveling abroad allows people to have international experiences, develop the skills necessary to succeed in our globalized world, and enables each to change the world in her or her own way. I intend to build the organization necessary to make this vision a reality.
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