Originally posted at Writeindependent.org on February 15, 2012
We live in an incredible time of technology and super fast commerce. Why is it, then, that we can’t solve the most basic of human problems: war posturing?
Any intelligent person can easily come to the conclusion that nuclear warfare does not make sense, because setting off a nuclear bomb anywhere sends radioactivity across the entire globe. It’s essentially shooting oneself in the foot. One may “win” the skirmish, but lose the health of the nation.
I love my homeland, but I’m not a nationalist. Nationalism might be the thing that is killing us when we assume we are so different from others. It isn’t enough to make the world flat by free trade agreements; that only serves to give the large companies a way to find the cheapest labor (racing to the bottom). It has to be tempered with social and environmental stewardship.
We live at an unprecedented time of sharing information that could end poverty. We have to teach people that there is enough to go around, because the only thing that stops us from ending poverty is fear of scarcity.
When people are afraid that they will run out, they hoard. Studies in recent times have shown that in places of starvation, there was enough food to go around except that some people hoarded supplies anticipating a calamity, so it did not reach others in need and it spoiled.
The first rule of food supply should be: share. The more you share, the more comes back to you.
It all starts with fear. What we see across the globe is that the top people fear losing “control” over the masses. People are not to be feared; they are peace-loving and equitable, for the most part. The few that want to exert control must come to terms with the fact that life is uncertainty and even in its uncertainty, life is beautiful.