Utopia

Hola! 

Here is a blog post I had to write for my writing class. And if you want to read it on my less fancy blog here is the link, but it is basically the same thing. 

Prompt: “What is your idea of a utopia?”

After reading this prompt I realized that I do not normally think about utopias as much as I do dystopias since it is one of my favorite genres to read about in literature. Some of my favorite dystopian novels include "The Hunger Games," "The Giver," "Divergent,"  "Fahrenheit 451," and many, many more. I think the thing that interests me the most about these worlds is that they initially started off with a way of living that was supposed to benefit the community, but eventually turned into something evil due to a particular group or person lusting after power. For example in Veronica Roth’s novel “Divergent” a futuristic Chicago is divided into 5 different factions: Amity (Love), Abnegation (Selflessness), Erudite (Intelligence), Candor (Honesty), and Dauntless (Bravery). These were the virtues that society saw fit as the most important and at sixteen-years-old the youth takes a test to see which faction they would fit into best. However, the book’s protagonist Beatrice Prior discovers that she fits into every faction because she is Divergent and that is not allowed. You will have to read the book or see the movie (which comes out on March21st, 2014) to see what happens next, but I think it is pretty obvious that Beatrice being Divergent is a very bad thing and Chicago’s perfect society is not really that perfect.

Anyhow, I guess what I am trying to get at is that I am a little skeptical of the idea of a coming up with my own version of a utopia mainly because I am scared of the potential flaws in my plan. It seems like there is no perfect society out there. People are always trying to fix things no matter what.

In any case, here is my idea of a Utopia.

My idea of a Utopia is where people are rewarded for good deeds and positivity. It took me a while to think this through and it is not perfect, but here is what I would do. (It is a little sci-fi-ish by the way.)

At birth everyone is given a bracelet that monitors their moods and basically every thing they do. When a person thinks good thoughts, is kind to others, does community service, works hard in school, etc, they are rewarded points. It’s kind of like in Harry Potter when Professor McGonagall says, “Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule-breaking and you will lose points.”

With this system people are encouraged to help decrease (as John Green describes it) “world suck.”

Now what can you do with these points? Good question.

Well, first of all the world is the same as far as jobs and money are concerned, so you can’t use the points toward more money. However, you can use these points to get better health insurance, have your schooling paid for, get travel benefits, etc. You can choose from any one of these after your eighteenth birthday.

If people are struggling with keeping positive counseling is mandatory. The bracelet will be able to tell when a person is being genuine too, so people can’t fake it. When people are mean to their self or mean to others they get points taken away or more severely jail.

Yes, it’s not perfect, but its intentions are to make the world a happier and more positive place.

How about you?

What would your Utopia be?

Blog to you later!

Love, 

Amanda