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Ever Widening Circles

Pixabay

Social Studies

10 minute lesson

Lost Wallets Proving It’s Still an Amazing World

Ever Widening Circles

What if losing your wallet could help prove it’s still an amazing world?

If you’ve ever lost your wallet or phone you know the feeling of panic that comes with it. You rummage around for a second and probably assume it’s gone forever. The well-known YouTuber Mark Rober decided to turn his loss into a reason to experiment. Mark set about trying to scientifically measure our collective acts of kindness by losing 200 wallets.

How many people would return them? What kinds of people would be kind enough to do so? Is the world really as awful a place as it seems? Or are there good people, even in a small minority out there?

Why It Matters

Why is it that we have such negative opinions of the world around us? So often we hear about the terrible things happening in the world and focus in on the negativity around us, but there is a lot to be optimistic about.

Yes, there are problems, but focusing only on the bad things that are happening makes us feel helpless. If we have a more balanced view of the world we can make better choices and support those who are working to tackle the world’s big problems.

Let's Talk About It
  1. What factors alter our perception of the world?
  2. How have you seen acts of kindness in your community?
  3. What are some of the ways you can work to change the negative dialogue about our world?
Image: Mark Rober logo

Mark Rober

Former NASA engineer. Current YouTuber and friend of science.

Thank You

Thank you to the EWCed writing staff! If you want to submit content to EWCed, please let us know.

Citations

“200 Dropped Wallets- the 20 MOST and LEAST HONEST Cities.” YouTube, Mark Rober, 9 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnL7sJYblGY. Accessed 10 Oct. 2018

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