AS an adult, each of us has our own profession. But whatever our profession, we must be dedicated to that not just to survive financially but more importantly, so we can uplift the world that we live in. Sounds cliché? Definitely not. Because if all of us will cooperate on whatever endeavor we are good at, then this planet will be well on its way to a utopia.

Consider the year 2008 as a very challenging year and take it from there. There was one Australian futurist who claims that in the next 40 years, there will be another Ice Age and all eyes are in northern Europe. The glaciers there will melt and will give way to smooth farmlands while the rest of Asia will submerge in water. Therefore, governments this early must already study on how to bring about a massive exodus of population from Asia to northern Europe. The generation of high school students today will surely be the ones who will supervise the exodus 40 years from now. They must be prepared for this overwhelming academic challenge.

Another challenge facing the world focuses on the field of infectious diseases. In the 20th century, the world had a total of three pandemics killing more than two million people. We must not let those happen again. The first part of this millennium saw a surge of new strains in infectious diseases such as SARS, bird flu and E. coli. But since we had not let our guards down, we were able to prevent an outbreak of those diseases. However, we must not rest on our laurels. We must train our high school students today who will become our physiologists of tomorrow so they can protect the next generation of the world’s inhabitants.

But not all people are trained to become climatologists, state leaders and physicians. I am an artist for example. I am an Impressionist and my media are oil and watercolor. At the same time, I’m a professional football player and a member of the Australian national team. If I am to bring pride to my country, I must excel in these twin undertakings abroad. There is no other means to attain that except to constantly study. In my own little way, I have achieved constructing a library in my town here in Perth where I have acquired numerous books about the visual arts and about football. Studying even at the age of 22 still fascinates me. After all, studying does not stop when one graduates from college. It must continue to be a lifelong passion even when one reaches the age of 65.

There is one guy I know who is a movie critic. To be a movie critic, Gene must constantly be aware of the developments in the movie industry and the movie sector. And that is still studying. For example, Gene must know that there is already a new technology on how to appear one’s body bruised and battered on screen.