We’ve all seen the news reports and video clips; the sound and the fury of angry people, of overzealous truncheon wielding police, of peaceful protesters and violent confrontations; of the frustration and resentment evident on the faces warily regarding each other from both sides of the line.
The energy for change is out there, Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, they both reflect a growing sense of the inherent unfairness, dysfunction and non-sustainability of the current World Order. Unrest is endemic.
Our world economy is an illusory and insubstantial house of cards. Tottering precariously, it trembles with every crisis of lost confidence, of national insolvencies, of market manipulations and frenzied speculation, of bank failures and systematic financial malfeasance.
Our nations bankrupt themselves feeding their military-industrial machines while our governmental leaders sell themselves to the highest bidder, concerned more with maintaining their own personal power than working toward effective solutions to the problems that plague us all, individually, regionally, nationally and globally: poverty, famine, environmental degradation, ever-widening economic disparity, unending regional conflicts and the terrifying specter of another world war.
We seem locked in a downward spiral, boxed in by ancient tribal animosities, by misplaced notions of national sovereignty, by the unrepentant greed and avarice of those in whose trust we have placed our faith to guide us through these troubling times.
We, Humanity, stand at a crossroads.
The continuation of the current World Order, with its cutthroat, competitive, counter-productive and inefficient economic reality; with its leadership, regardless of whatever altruistic intent may exist, forced by parochial and provincial constraints to stumble from one crisis to the next; with its proven inability to deal in any meaningful way with our pressing global concerns–if left unhindered on its present course can only lead to a bleak and dire future—a future, for most of us, filled with constant fear and uncertainty; of economic instability and retraction; of increasing scarcity and unaffordability of vital natural resources, and of an unending series violent conflicts over land, water, food and fuel.
A dark vision, indeed, but a distinctly probable one, nonetheless. Is this really the future we want for ourselves and our children?
Another possible future does exist if we have the will to make it so.
A future where the rights of all are cherished and protected, rather than repressed and denied; where the health and sustainability of the environment is foremost, rather than a secondary consideration in the quest for quick profits; where no nation need exhaust its treasury to defend itself against outside aggression, or play policeman for the world; a future where a life filled with hope, prosperity and plenty is the norm for most, not just the providence of the fortunate few; a future where our shared global problems are dealt with in a sane, rational, and effective manner, rather than in pursuit of self-serving pragmatical political expediency; a future where hard work, integrity and honesty are rewarded, not reviled.
The kind of future the vast majority of us, living and sharing this singular planet, this Earth, yearn to see.
This future can be ours if we have the will. Our united voices give us the strength, our combined efforts the means, and our shared aspirations the moral authority to change our path and together realize a brighter and better tomorrow.
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