At the end of the nineteenth century the civilized world began to fear an invisible enemy — germs. This was shortly after Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease. The twentieth century faced a succession of other enemy threats — Nazism, Communism, Racism. While our battle against disease seemed to be progressing well, the social “germs” of ideology, greed and prejudice presented a more difficult challenge for human survival. Now, early in the twenty-first century, ideology and prejudice have morphed into the fear of terrorists. This fear has inflamed racial and religious hatred and thrown humanity back into the most primitive behavior and mentality, thereby delaying solutions to our real pressing problems.

The fight against disease in the twentieth century was an on-going global effort. “Have” nations helped “have-not” nations through many non-governmental organizations coordinated by the United Nations. People cooperated to rid the world of smallpox, polio, measles and tuberculosis.  In stark contrast to the war on disease, the war on terrorism has made terrorists of all participants. Conflict has caused all parties to act contrary to the moral bases of all their self-righteous claims and justifications. Enemies have become mirror images of each other, and they have become just like what they hate.

How much pain and unhappiness is humanity willing to tolerate? Terrorism, war, and disease, as well as the more universal peril of environmental pollution are all visible symptoms of invisible psychological “germs.” Preventative medicine is always less costly than treating symptoms resulting from neglect. In addition, a conscious, healthy lifestyle creates a better quality of life. On a global scale, we must treat humanity and the planet as one organism and view it as our own self.  We must live a healthy lifestyle — physically, emotionally, and mentally — and secure it for all people. By not viewing the whole planet as sharing a common destiny, we create obstacles to universal peace and prosperity, and poison our relationships. It is obsession with our separate personal or national identity, expressed arrogantly, that creates enemies.

At the end of World War II the United Nations was founded to end the “causes of war.” This was based on the wisdom of prevention. The state of war is the consequence of self-centered ignorance, nothing more. Ideology, religious doctrines, and economic reasons are just excuses, and methods for “rallying the troops.” War, terrorism, and now environmental crises are really the breaking point of past selfish attitudes, negligence and short-sighted choices. Foolish pride, the human ingredient for tragedy, is ever the enemy of human success. It is curious that historians never really cite “human folly” as the cause of human suffering and as the cause for unfulfilled human potential.

Perhaps the function of enemies, whether germs or terrorists, is to distract us from facing the real enemy that is within. Human and social progress is a result of self-improvement. Unless we face our flaws, fears, habits and addictions we cannot prevent them from ruling our life. When we collectively consider our flaws to be virtues, then we choose leaders that embody them, and are happily led to our self-destruction. Humility is not easy when leaders tell us we are right and others are wrong, and when they feed our addictions. How can we face ourselves objectively if we always feel that others and not ourselves are the threats to our happiness?

A global view of current “enemies:”

“Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Western allies have been asking: What will replace the threat of communism as the cement that holds together the Atlantic alliance? Some have argued terrorism, but I don’t think so. I think my German friends have the best idea: the issue that will and should unite the West is energy and all its challenges.

After all, nothing is a bigger threat today to the Western way of life and quality of life than the combination of climate change, pollution, species loss, and Islamist radicalism and petro-authoritarianism — all fueled by our energy addictions. And no solution is possible to these problems without concerted government actions to reduce emissions, to inspire green innovation and to shift from oil to renewable power.”

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, The New York Times
Published: October 27, 2006 (read whole article — you may need to register for Times Select)

Comment: How sad that threats rather than shared goals unite us!

Below are the Millennium Development Goals, eight goals that all 191 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. Unfortunately, most governments are not living up to their committment. It nevertheless shows direction for cooperation based on dedication to shared principles:

United Nations Millennium Development Goals
Adopted September 2000 (read entire declaration)

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Develop a global partnership for development

 United Nations Millennium Declaration (read entire declaration)

In conclusion:

There is no need to have enemies — either visible or invisible. All we need to do is open our eyes to the problems of the world that stand in the way of survival and then take global action to solve them with all available resources. The lack of goodwill of most national governments is the sole enemy. It doesn’t take much intelligence to see that. Thus we must no longer let governments stand in the way of our future. We must not let them busy themselves creating enemies then squandering our resources destroying their creations while becoming like them. Governments have proven that they can cooperate when it serves their economic interests. They need to realize that cooperation serves everybody's interest.

© 2006 Richard Sidy