My Definition of Utopia

by Dianna L. Gunn

When we ran the Dystopia issue back in July, I wrote a post entitled Utopia Vs. Dystopia. As a final note I said that everyone's idea of utopia is different, so today I'd like to tell you about my vision of utopia.

In my utopia, we would have found an infinitely renewable source of electricity. This way, we could keep things like the internet functional without ruining our planet.

In my utopia, money wouldn't exist. Instead, regardless of what job they did, children, students and everyone employed would have shelter and food and other crucial items would be shared freely. What jobs people did would be based on their passion, rather than on what education they could afford or on race, age or gender. This would eliminate both poverty and hunger.

In my utopia, it would be easy and acceptable to plan your families, with birth control and contraception being freely provided. This way, nobody would have children they didn't want, meaning all children would be well loved.

In my utopia, sickness would never put someone into debt, but more importantly, terminally ill people would be able to choose when they die. Nobody would be forced to live in a hospital bed attached to twenty machines. People would instead choose the time and place of their death, so that they might die happy and with dignity.

In my utopia, there would be no 1%. Instead there would only be 100%, with all people on an equal footing, recognizing that everyone's contribution to society is important—after all, how well do you think teachers would teach if they had to clean the schools too? How well do you think scientists would do if they had nobody to teach them the periodic table? Every job is important to keep the system running, and in my utopia, they would acknowledge that.

My utopia would be a society that matched my values, focusing on the well being of its people rather than their efficiency or money. It is based upon my ideals. Some people's idea of utopia will be the same as mine. Others will have a slightly different or even completely different idea of utopia based on their own beliefs—and that variety of belief is just what makes humans so great.

So now I ask you to think: what does your utopia look like?

Dianna L. Gunn is a young Canadian fiction writer who specializes in dark fantasy. She also writes poetry, generally dark, which is her way of dealing with life. This insightful author hosts a website covering every aspect of fiction writing and interviews with noted guest authors.

Learn more about Dianna L. Gunn on her website and follow her on Twitter.