Clean Water and the Stephen Colbert Think Tank

I had a crazy dream the other night.

Stephen Colbert was there.

As were a committee of 40 some-odd people including my wife.

Our task was to figure out how to solve the world's problems.

The truth is, even in my dream we couldn't fix everything.

We had a budget.

We had to do the most good with a billion dollars.

Truthfully, considering the enormity of the problems we face that isn't very much.

It was my first day with the think tank and I was determined to be vocal, to contribute.

I suggested that we could do the most good by resolving the water crisis.

I proposed a pragmatic argument. Not only would the money go further this way but as a result there would be widescale improvements on the systemic and societal levels.

I made intriguing points, points that I have never considered in my waking life, but as it happened everytime I spoke I did so out of turn.

Mr. Colbert corrected me gently, "I must say, I am impressed with how well prepared you are and we will consider your statements but it is not your time to speak."

Regretfully, I woke up before it was my turn and so I do not know how I might have made my case.

Make the case for me. How would resolving the world's water crisis effect the most good?

We are familiar with the moral argument for taking care of the poor and broken, that it is the right and just thing to do, but what about the pragmatic argument?

Sometimes, the right thing and the thing that works are the same thing. Think about it.