Whenever I speak to people about life and purpose they say, "There must be a meaning to life, otherwise what's the point?" My answer to that is, "No point, no meaning, other than the meaning we create for ourselves."

I'm 56, I'm in good health, I've had a good life, I wasn't an abused child, in fact I was one of the lucky ones who had a happy childhood – a loving mother, visits to the seaside, plenty of fun and laughter.

My greatest success in life was as a father. I think I made a good father to my son, even though my influence over him was short lived. I've had my share of business successes, and failures. I'm about to embark on another business venture, one which should do rather well.

But really, what's the point? Is life really about earning lots of money and living luxuriously until we die? I think not. It always strikes me as funny that Kerry Packer, Rupert Murdoch, Queen Elizabeth and I are all going to end up owning exactly the same amount of wealth and property – zilch. There is no such thing as a wealthy corpse. Even Tutankhamun was oblivious to his burial trappings. So what's it all about, Alfie?

I mean, who's the wealthier man right now, Howard Hughes or me? Being alive, well and happy is the only wealth that really matters, therefore I am wealthier by far than Howard Hughes.

There is one thing which spoils my enjoyment of life and that is the suffering of children. The world is filled with unhappy children. African children starving to death. Afghanistan and Cambodian children with their legs blown off by land mines. Romanian children dying of AIDS. Filipino and Thai children being forced into prostitution. Indian children chained to looms making carpets until they go blind. Everywhere you look, children suffering.

And let's face it, you don't have to look much further than the end of your street to find children being maltreated. No animal on Earth is as bad at raising its young as the human. We've lost the knack. Three thousand years ago a brutal and sadistic man wrote an essay which became part of 'Proverbs' in the Old Testament. He advised parents to beat their children with a rod "for their souls' sake." Parents have been beating their children ever since.

"When I slap the one-year old she just looks at me stunned, where-as when I slap the two and the three year olds I get a reaction."

A Christian father, laughing and boasting to a friend of mine how he "disciplines" his children.

And when they're not being physically abused, children are being sexually or emotionally abused, talked down to, belittled, debased. It's all part of "growing up", and we wonder why the world's in a mess. The world is in a mess because we're in a mess. It's that simple, but the remedy is less so.

The problem is so immense, the tendency is to look the other way and say, "It's too big, there's nothing I can do about it." But I don't believe that's so. I believe that one person, fully committed, can make and enormous difference. I've always felt that I could make a difference, but other things got in the way. Other, less important things.

Am I going to waste my remaining years doing nothing about the suffering of children? I mean, let's face it, if I work real hard for the next two years I could own a beautiful home on Avoca Beach. That would be nice. I could buy the latest Porche. That would also be nice. And what would my epitaph be? 'Doug Monroe earned a lot of money'? Wouldn't I rather have, 'Doug Monroe made a difference'?

I think I would. In fact I know I would. Not because I want to be remembered when I'm dead, but because, when my time comes I want to look back on my life and say, "I enjoyed it, and I made a difference." I don't fear death but I do fear lying on my death-bed and thinking, "What a waste my life was." It would be worse for me than for most people because I'd know that I once had the ability to make waves, but I did nothing. To waste my ability would be the greatest disservice I could pay myself and the community.

On the television last night was a documentary about a man who trains horses by talking to them gently and by gaining their trust rather than roping and "breaking" them in the traditional manner. If we can un-learn centuries of cruelty to horses, then we can do the same for children.

From little acorns, big oak trees grow. Let's get planting.

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