Can We SAVE the WORLD?

Can we really save the world? Yes, can we? As someone who spends quite some time jumping from one media story to another, from BBC to CNN, to Aljazeera, to RT, to NewVision and Monitor back at home; it’s easy to conclude that the direction we are headed to is that of a tight rope race. One side is pulling us to total destruction and the other to mutual understanding, caring and general prosperity of mankind. And this is not unique to any place in the world, but rather seems to happen where more than person exists! In fact, even for a single individual there are wars taking place within his/her head. To be honest I believe it’s these wars that take place within us that leak out to affect those around us and translate into even bigger nation to nation, tribe to tribe or religious wars.

Over the course of current and previous events marring the world, you get to listen, see and read reactions from several sympathizers of the involved parties. Someone will criticize what’s happening with the strongest of terms, but what’s amazing is that this same individual is not at terms with his/her immediate neighbour! Yes, we want things to change, we want the conflicts to end, we want the spec removed from our neighbour, but does it ever occur to us that we too probably need to first remove the spec in our utmost vicinity - ourselves?

Most disheartening are the innocents caught in-between the struggles of two! Do they deserve it? Why would children be the victim of a failing marriage or civilians be the victims of a continuing war? Or still, why would a pedestrian be the victim of your drunken driving? Someone may claim that there is no perfect world, and yes I agree, there isn’t one. We can only take conscious efforts to a better world if we start fighting the right wars that lead us in the right direction.

And yes we can save the world. Imagine there were no wars, conflicts or misunderstandings. The total spending on military would partially be diverted to combating other challenges such as disease, epidemics, drought, infrastructure and above all, activities that lead to resilience of our societies. Let this first step begin with you.