Living In The World Today

The recent tsunami has really jolted me into re-evaluating my priorities and on a bigger scale, analyzing where civilisation stands right now in 2005. There are some major problems our society faces and these problems are slowly spreading. As of yet, we are not addressing the core issues that divide our world. The tsunami incident itself is becoming a prophetic indication of this crisis. Even as rescue efforts continue in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers controlled region is not getting aid that it requires. A large part of Sri Lanka's North Eastern Coast is under Tamil Tiger control and was one of the hardest hit areas by the tsunami. The government of Sri Lanks has promised aid, but not much of it has arrived. At the same time, the Sri Lankan government banned the UN Seceratary, Kofi Annan from travelling to tsunami afflicted areas under Tiger control yesterday. This shows how twisted the problems of our world are, that even after such a major catastrophe that has humbled people all over the world let alone the region in question; that even after such a tragedy, we are still quibbling about racial, religious and ethnic problems that we have killed and fought over for years and years anyway. If not such a human tragedy, if not such a massacre as Iraq, if not such bloodshed as in Darfur, then what is going to unite us? What will it take for our world, our people, the world's people from standing up and saying something in unision. We need to address the core problems of our society today to make sure that our future is peaceful. We need to focus on poverty, on children, on hunger, on preventing wars and outbreaks. Nobody wants to fight a war of attrition if they get their fair share in whatever system is in place, as long as they are equal and they have been treated fairly, nobody wishes to die in the streets and out their own existence in danger; it's when you use them and treat them unfairly as a populace, only at that point, do rebellions start and wars break out.

This is idealism talking. I know i'm idealistic even though many a times I have used the veil of cynicism. Yet, I have to be idealistic. Otherwise, I come to the conclusion, that we are all going to die very soon. Our world is getting scarier by the minute and out collective efforts are barely holding the seams of our society together. We are not making any progress as a society as humans, because we are too busy quibbling over little immaterial issues when the real issue in question is our own basic survival. We walk on this earth and leave massive footprints that have worn it down. We walk around and each step we take, each move we make, effects the earth in some way, and there are millions and billions of us. We each leave our own environmentally unconcious, politically ill formed and ill willed desires on it; these build up, they break our scoeity down. You would think that so many of us walkign around would realise that this earth is as vulnerable as a sheet of glass these days. It has its soft spots and its strong ones. Wouldn't you think tho that we would tiptoe at ceratin points, that we would think about what moves we make today just in case, fifty years after we all die, our own children's survival might not be at risk because of our frivolous and greedy needs.

As a society we have let major crises simmer in the background while we deal with money making, yet these issues have become entrenched in the regions and are now the cause of major conflicts. Kahsmir hasn't been solved yet, it's been 54 years. Palestine too hasn't seen any hope. South America has suffered since the past half century and we haven't resolved rebel issues and drug wars in that region wither. What are we waiting for? These problems have now becomes causes for new wars. Wrs that leave behind large footprints on this world too, psychologically and literally. We need to address issues intead of raising more. We need to wake up, and realise that our existence is in our hands, yet we must remember that future generations do not have that luxury yet. The responsibility lies with us till then.

We need to solve Kashmir. We need to solve Palestine. We need to solve Indonesia and Sri Lanka. We need to solve South America. We need to solve AIDS. We need to solve cancer, asthma and alzheimers . We need to feed children in Africa. We need to teach people in Cambodia. We need to free people in Tibet. We need to help those that need our help the most, without asking them for the shirts on their back. We need to stop helping people based on what move will give us the highest resources and most profit. We need to stop living for ourselves, and think of our neighbour, our kids, our unborn and maybe unthought of children. We need to engrain these values in our kids, so that they will learn to live in a world more tolerant, respectful, helpful and peaceful. In short, We need to act.

You cannot cantrol the past, but you can change the future. And anyone who tells you differently is a fucking lethargic devil.