I've never wanted anything more than to give to the world; to make a true difference in some way. The yearn to not just give to those around me, but to give to a massive cause or group of people or animals in some way, is just as indescribable as the sadness it brings me to not be capable of having that type of positive impact. I can't just singlehandedly cause world peace. I don't have enough money, and probably never will have enough money, to just travel the world, helping and donating and giving to any living creature in any possible way.

Money is a funny thing... funny in that sad, ironic way. It's is essentially the most significant motivator in many of our lives. Not morals or ethics, not humanity, not charity, no -- just a bunch of notes and coins.

Everyone is driven by money. The most impoverished nations are the ones which lack currency, while the most successful have an abundance of it. Because that money is so strong, it can also become dehumanizing. If a person was promised $1,000,000,000 to kill a child, or even more than one, there's a high chance that this person would do it. The possibility of wealth brings out our demons, leading to corruption and obsession and materialism and this obtusely fabricated belief that if you have enough money, you will just suddenly become happy with every aspect of your life.

There's this strange appeal to money that implies it is the most important thing in the world. In a way, it is. To roughly quote a Tweet I saw a few weeks ago, which I hadn’t been able to successfully retrieve since, "Capitalism is the driving force behind environmental degradation, mass animal slaughter, and human labor exploitation." That's just why money sucks: if you have it, it’s often used to bring others down, and if you don't have it, there's a high chance you won't live a totally fulfilling life. Of course some poor people can find the most happiness in the most horrible of situations, but it's extremely difficult in an industrialized and technology-driven society to not be put down by your financial superiors.

Let's take the dairy and meat industries, for instance. Animals are killed and tortured to the most unthinkable extent everyday for the sake of mass companies; for the sake of the fast and imminent production of money. There are more humane ways to carry out milking a cow, such as by hand, rather than hooking them up to crazy machinery to be artificially inseminated and constantly tugged at by the utter in a huge warehouse. Likewise, while there is no humane way to kill anyone, there are definitely ways to kill animals for food besides either starving them to death or over-feeding them; besides trapping them in small spaces with hundreds of others just like them, just to be burnt or gassed or sliced open or ground-up alive; besides manhandling them, such as throwing them from crate to crate, from person to person, from truck to truck. Think of Of Mice And Men: George simply shot Lennie in the back of the head, so that he wouldn't die a long or painful death. Why can't we treat animals, our comrades on this planet, with the kindness and love they deserve, to make their short time on Earth worth the while? Because it would take too long, or because it would cost too much money to do so — or even both, right?

The dairy and meat industries are just one example of money being far too much of a priority for those who are already wealthy. I won't go into detail, but here are some other horrible things that happen every day in order to earn currency:

Millions of (American) dollars contribute to war -- to attacking both soldiers and civilians around the world. Gang members and hunters murder for bounties. Women and men alike are consistently sexualized and made to be objects and eye-candy, because "sex sells." Forests, the homes of non-human organisms, are destroyed to make space for shopping centers and malls. The homes of the States' few lasting Natives are being risked for the profit of an already prosperous oil company. Some of the most well-known charities Earth has to offer are actually fraudulent, taking money for themselves to expand and advertise rather than actually help the cause they advocate for. Companies in various different countries hire children and minorities and single parents that are already in tough situations to do manual labor, because they are desperate for the money they need to thrive and support themselves and their families, just to be underpaid and under-benefited by their employers. Humans will go to disgusting extents to increase their wealth.

Humans will do all of this… just to earn a few extra bucks.