Does Making the World Better in One Way Make it Better in Every Way?

The film Amazing Grace is a truly astounding film. It should be on everyone's must watch list. It is the story of the English abolitionist, William Wilberforce and his work to end slavery in Great Britain. The film is masterfully done. Here's the trailer:

There is a scene with Wilberforce and a group of Abolitionists at dinner. William Wilberforce is at this time still contemplating how to get into the kind of advocacy he would eventually be know for. At this dinner, he responds to a dinner companion's claim about the making of a better world.

"Issues of the making of a better world."

Wilberforce: "Better in which way?"

"If you make the world better in one way, it becomes better in every way. Don't you think?"

Is this true? Does the world become better in any way, if it is made better in one way? If I solve hunger in Somalia, but another country falls prey to war, faminine, and destruction, has there been any net gain in the betterness of the world?

Is making the world better not like scooping water out of a leaking boat? It probably is. But perhaps it's the wrong question to ask whether one really makes a difference. The only thing we can control is what we do. So the real question is in the face of futility, do we resign ourselves to inaction, or do we, with our dying breath, as Albert Camus says of a dying woman, scream "never!" That is, do we press forward against the tide until we're swept away?

​The world can't become better. But we can make it better.