--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: November 12 description: Finding a purpose after war, imitation as innovation, the rising power of the U.S.-China relationship, reforms to end the cycle of poverty and more. canonical: https://time.com/3580944/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-12/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-12T20:50:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:05.451Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas og:description: Learn about: Veterans finding their purpose after war, imitation as innovation, the power of the U.S.-China relationship and reforms to end the cycle of poverty. og:url: https://time.com/3580944/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-12/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas twitter:description: Learn about: Veterans finding their purpose after war, imitation as innovation, the power of the U.S.-China relationship and reforms to end the cycle of poverty. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: November 12 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 12, 2014 8:50 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 12, 2014 8:50 PM CUT **1\.** [**“Seven years after returning from Iraq, I’m finally home.” One veteran reflects on how service after his time at war changed his life.**](https://medium.com/@missioncontinue/seven-years-after-returning-from-iraq-im-finally-home-d70711287761 "undefined") By Chris Miller in Medium **2\.** [**Humanity’s gift for imitation and iteration is the secret to our innovation and survival.**](http://aeon.co/magazine/science/imitation-is-what-makes-us-human-and-creativ/ "undefined") By Kat McGowan in Aeon **3\.** [**Amid news of a groundbreaking climate agreement, it’s clear the China-U.S. relationship will shape the global future.**](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/12/brics-america-china-reshape-new-world-order "undefined") By Natalie Nougayrède in the Guardian **4\.** [**Lessons a year after Typhoon Haiyan: The pilot social safety net in place before Haiyan struck the Philippines helped the country better protect families after the disaster.**](http://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/philippines-one-year-after-typhoon-haiyan "undefined") By Mohamad Al-Arief at the World Bank Group Social Protection and Labor Global Practice **5\.** [**A handful of simple policy reforms — not requiring new funding — can set the table for breaking the cycle of multigenerational poverty.**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-mosle/a-policy-idea-both-partie%5Fb%5F6120926.html?utm%5Fhp%5Fref=tw "undefined") By Anne Mosle in the Huffington Post  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3580944/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-12/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3580944/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-12/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: November 12","datePublished":"2014-11-12T20:50:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:05.451Z","description":"Finding a purpose after war, imitation as innovation, the rising power of the U.S.-China relationship, reforms to end the cycle of poverty and more.","url":"https://time.com/3580944/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-12/","keywords":["Innovation","women","Children","climate","Iraq","poverty","China","Philippines","us","Veterans Day"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3580944/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-12/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: November 12"}}]}] ```