Lack of vision and the how to implement world peace?

These are all variations on Proverbs 29:18 from four different translations:

Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law. (nKJV)

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint;
but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. (NIV)

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (KJV)

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.
But whoever obeys the law is joyful. (New Living Translation)

It is always interesting to compare the various translations, they all say the same thing but some seem to say it better or more effectively than others, and this varies from verse to verse, even within the same translation and may depend on the reader or even the reader's current mood as to which is "the best."  I especially love the contrast between the original King James and the New Living Translation.  Of course, I have always been a lover of archaic words and poetic prose (an oxymoron?), but I must also admit that the latter translation is quite amusing in how it puts this simple statement and perhaps more effective with a modern audience!

This verse has been on my mind for a time, and I wonder if that is the heart of our modern conundrum.  We have no vision, no purpose, no meaning thus do we run wild/perish, trying to fill the void in our hearts and lives when God has given us the answer to all our questions and deepest longings, but little do we heed them and so do we flounder.  Nothing is truth anymore, everything is relative.  No wonder we walk about dazed and confused!

But how do we change the world?  It is really quite simple.  It is not ending wars, getting rid of nuclear weapons, uniting all countries into a giant global community, or a new government program or educational breakthrough.  All we need do to change the masses is to begin with an individual heart.  Yes, you and you alone, are able to change the world, at least in so far as your own heart is concerned.  You cannot change the country or the world or even your neighborhood but you can begin to change your own heart.  If enough people take seriously this challenge, then truly the world will be changed, but the only thing you can change is yourself, not your spouse, your kids, or the President, but yourself alone.  But what is our vision of change; to what do we aspire?

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
 
⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things...¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (II Corinthians 13:1-6, 13 ESV).

These are words to change the world, if not a heart!  But we cannot do it alone, but there is One who can help us if we but ask!  The Beauty Contest competitors always dream of world peace, but it must begin with us.