The first day of 2019:
After spending the greater part of my life wrestling with
global issues and studying threats to national and human security I celebrated
the end of 2018 with just my wife watching the ball drop on TV. As the clock counted down, I was energized as
in the last few seconds of a tied college wrestling bout against a beatable opponent. But as
soon as the year ended, I felt a sudden uplifting of energy and excitement. I/we have yet another chance (hopefully a
whole year) to defeat the triple opponent that every generation must wrestle
with. Ignorance, apathy, and
distractions. I’ve finally come to believe
that these are the primary engines of destruction (perhaps our extinction). And they will only be defeated with the loving
persistent application of truth and justice - locally and globally. My wife and I danced (about 3,500 steps according
to our Fitbits) and went to sleep after another 30 minutes of deep conversation
about how we might spend our last years together on this profoundly amazing planet.
Enjoying it or continue efforts to
protect it.
I didn’t think in the morning I’d wake up and be moved to tears
by reading the Washington Post’s lead editorial. It sliced deep into mind and chest by selecting
“the words of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address” and suggested they “ring
throughout 2019” as “A resolution for all ages.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-perfect-new-years-resolution-for-2019/2018/12/31/390b175a-0abe-11e9-88e3-989a3e456820_story.html?utm_term=.9e7a8e69ab7c
Before reading it I had read other articles from two of my
other favorite information sources, The Washington Times (conservative views) and
Scientific American magazine (reality views).
I read the Washington Times because
of Sun Tsu (his first rule in the Art of War). And Scientific American because of
it’s grounded perspective on the reality we must all seek to understand given
that we all breath the same air as we float tethered by gravity to our planet -
the third planet from the sun, or ‘spaceship earth” as Buckminster Fuller would
call it.
In the Washington Times, Daniel L. Lewis’ opinion piece, “Foreign
terrains and twisted minds: Terror plots are hatched in the minds of
terrorists, not on any specific piece of land” offered a self-evident truth to
address jihadi terrorism. He basically supports
President Trump’s swift decision to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan
by quoting the 9-11 commission report that details when and where those plans were
made. Afghanistan was only the place the plans were finalized. Nearly a dozen other countries hosted the
planners before that. And, US troops fighting
in Afghanistan after 9-11 or anywhere else will not stop future attacks from
being planned.
He didn’t mention another not so well recognized ‘self-evident
truth’ that terrorist plots are hatched against the US anywhere motivated by
the real or perceived injustices that US military interventions have
perpetrated in other countries. Military
interventions that are nearly always associated collateral damage which is inevitable
when war is involved. His thesis essentially supports the goal of
the American peace movement’s goal of withdrawing US troops from all other
nations. But neither Lewis or the peace
movement call for what’s needed to prevent mass casualty attacks in the long
run. Global justice. Ensuring ‘liberty and justice for all’. We can best move us in this direction today by
adequately funding and urgently achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals
which would eliminate the root cause of most of the world’s injustices that
drive multiple security threats (pandemics, global warming, war, terrorism,
poverty…).
The money saved by troop withdraws and cutting the military budget
by 20% isn’t enough to fund these vital goals.
The good news is that there is no shortage of money in this world if
there is the political will to address the root causes of injustice. The flaws in our national and international policies
cause them or ignore largely ignore them.
And that’s were the Scientific American letter-to-the-editor
(by Kevin Loughran, Belfast, Norther Ireland) comes in. His insight offered a key element essential
to us having a thriving, just and sustainable future. He was responding to last month’s SA cover
story on the “Evolved Uniqueness” of humans.
He said that we are unlike other species in that we “can imagine future possibilities,
beyond what we can see or touch now.” True! But,
studying current world trends it’s possible that somewhere in the last few
decades we either stopped evolving - or got so comfortable with the status quo
and simply used our imagination for purely selfish, comforting, distracting, or
short sighted objectives.
That’s where the word’s of Lincoln and the uniqueness of our
nation fits in. Today we Americans have contrasting
values and values regarding patriotism and nationalism. Word’s
should mean something. But recently
partisanships are arguing over the meaning of the word “Wall”. Of
course, there are different uses of the word ‘wall’. A biology cell wall is different than a jail
cell wall or a wall between church and state.
But we need a clear definition of patriotism and nationalism, if we are
going to build a ship of state capable of navigating us safely into the future.
I believe Lincoln would have defined American patriotism as
an allegiance our ideals -- fundamental principles that would stand the test of
time. He once wrote that our Declaration
of Independence was our “Apple of Gold” and that our Constitution It’s “frame
of silver”. Every American has pledged alliance
to our nation -- with “Liberty and Justice for All”. Yet our laws, actions and proposed government
policies don’t reflect this. They seem
to reflect the same interests as every other nation. Viewing a sacred piece of
land that’s worth fighting, dying and killing for - with little concern for fundamental
principles.
Lincoln’s word reference in the Post were spoke during a
great civil war that eventually killed more Americans than all the wars that our
nation has fought in since then, combined.
Unless we abide by his words and those ‘self-evident’ “truths” initially
offered by our nation’s Founding Fathers more Americans will die needlessly. And, hundreds of millions will likely suffer
for generations to follow. We need to
get it right. Urgently!
We don’t have all the time in the world. The clock is ticking. Our evolution of government has not kept up
with the evolution of war and weapons. After
the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a journalist asked Albert Einstein “what weapons
did he think World War III be fought with?”
Einstein replied that he didn’t know.
But he ‘was certain that WW IV would be fought with sticks and stones.’ We
know the answer but continue to prioritize the law of force over the force of
law. Our imagination is failing us and
our children’s future.
Ignorance, apathy, indifference, selfishness, comfort, short
term thinking, and ease of distraction may be endemic to our unique species. But that’s not what got us here. Betsy DeVos recently said that ‘our country
and our technology has given us unprecedented comforts.’ “But that’s not what we were made for. We were made for greatness.”
As we spend the precious moments of 2019, we need to keep in
mind that the problems we are wrestling with is like wrestling with a Grizzly
bear. We don’t get to stop when we get
tired. We can only stop when the bear gets tired. And no wall, military, or tweet is going to
protect us until we get the fundamental principles right.
Wishing us all an insightful, productive, healthy and principled
new year!
No comments:
Post a Comment