I recently wondered what the population of our planet would have been if there had been no wars. Just think about. We're overcrowded now with 5 billion souls on this earth but think if no one had died from wars. Over 100 million people died because of the Second World War - that would mean another 500 million people born if they had lived.
 
Now this is not to say that war has any benefit whatsoever. But it does lead me to wonder when we're going to realise that our only future lies in finding somewhere to grow. As far as I can tell, the only option is to look for that place in space. Yes - space. I have no idea what would be involved in finding such a new home. Is it feasible to consider finding a planet similar to our own? Is it possible to make the moon or Mars inhabitable for mankind? I have no idea. What I do know is that mankind is trying to find the answers to these questions and the International Space Station currently being built, right now, in orbit, is part of that search. Governments from all over the world have made a financial commitment to the ISS because they realise that that is where our future lies.
 
The Australian Government has just announced a $23.5 billion increase in the military budget over the next ten years - a decision whose generosity even surprised the military themselves. But, according to an article I read this weekend, they won't spend $50 million on becoming part of the ISS. That's 7.7 days worth of spending from the military increase.
 
Like I said at the start, if you think this is unimportant - fine. That is your unalienable right. If, however, you feel as though something's not quite right about these sort of decisions, that maybe we should be concentrating our efforts on the future of mankind and not its destruction, then it's also your right to say something about it.

What we need is a strong country. Not just in terms of defence or economy - even though they are very important factors - we should also aim for strength in morals, democratic principles, etc.

If the 19th century (or at last 1837 to 1945) can be described as the British century, and from 1945 till now as the American century. Maybe the 21st century can be the Australian century. Australia has given the world the secret ballot (known in America at the turn of the century as the "Australian Ballot"), maybe we can also gently promote the ideals, the real ideals, that have made Australia - or at least the idea of Australia that we imagine - to the rest of the world.

We often don't understand the rest of the world because they don't see themselves the way we see ourselves. Maybe Canadians come close, and New Zealanders certainly, but most of the other nations and peoples around our globe have a very strong, lineal culture to deal with. That's never easy to shed but maybe by leading the way  - and not by dogmatic enforcement - we can show that our egalitarian ideal can work elsewhere.

Yes I know that it hasn't necessarily worked here all that well but, by and large I think it has. Just look at the Olympic Volunteers. Just remember the atmosphere here in Sydney during the Games. I don't have the statistics (but if you do let me know) but it's a fair bet that crime was way down during those two weeks.