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.
Annual Cost of Improving the World
• $19 billion: Eliminates starvation and malnutrition globally.
• $12 billion: Provides education for every kid on earth.
• $15 billion: Provides access to water and sanitation.
• $23 billion: Reverses the spread of AIDS and Malaria.
The Cost in Perspective
• $420 billion: U.S. Military
budget this year.
• $300 billion: Cost of Iraq War thus far.
Source: The
Borgen Project (Check
out the Borgen Project as an example of a non-governmental
organization taking on poverty and attempting to
put principles of the U.N. Millennium Declaration
into practice.) |
©
2006 Richard Sidy |