Getting Along

Reading news headlines and reports once would get the impression that the world is at war everywhere. Well, in some cases that impression may be truer than not if you consider private fights, skirmishes and criminal violence. Just think of racism, anti immigration protests and riots, and the like in the US and you will get the point readily enough.

On a larger scale of course, we have the violence of the near past and modest breakouts of new skirmishes in Egypt. Rebel warfare in Libya. Rebel warfare in Syria made more complex with the addition of ISIS craziness – it is a religious war, it is not a religious war, it is malcontents being violently malcontented! – whatever it is, it is warlike and dangerous.  Even more dangerous because it is sweeping beyond national borders into several countries and threatens violence in faraway places all over the globe. They say it is religious retaliation; but it is not that and anyone serious about religion and the study of theology knows this. No, it is a war of cultural dissonance and actual and imagined slights.

Then there is Russia’s taking of the Crimea. Russia’s feigned rebel supporters taking Ukraine when everyone knows it is Russia trying to take Ukraine once again under its power umbrella.

We would be remiss if we didn't include China which covets Japanese islands, neighboring Tibet, and countless other small territories, all of which would gain it strategic advantage militarily and economically if the need arises. Who then can take China as a peaceful ally? One is naturally very wary.

So too with Russia. Putin has made it clear that he calls the tune and that alone makes him the aggressor and thus peace is failed again.  It really is that simple.

Getting along is also quite simple. One party exercises power over another without cause or invitation. The other either gives in or fights back. Either way the bully is the bully and the bullied is bullied.

Why can’t we just all get along? Why does any person or group, company or nation wish to upset power balances just so they can gain an advantage over someone else. What is the motivation? Do they feel powerless otherwise? Do they feel unappreciated? Are they poor, in ill health, or dependent on others that make them feel even more powerless?

If that is the case, why don’t they trust willing helping hands almost always nearby for help? Helpers are not all seeking an advantage.  America sends aid to many countries year after year to help them recover from natural disasters, health plagues, huge absences of education infrastructure, scarcity of potable well water, agricultural challenges and many other crises. This help is a cultural need of America to provide to others. It is not an advantage seeking strategy.

If two people were the only people alive and struggling to remain alive on an isolated island, they would naturally find ways of trusting each other and cooperating with the work and tasks needed. They would most likely collaborate on long term solutions to their situation as well. Expand this scenario out to a town or village in trouble. They would work together to improve their lot.

So would nations do this within their borders if they have the resources. Sometimes it is necessary that other nations step forward to help such nations with needed resources so they can be self sustaining in the future.

This sort of behavior among nations also builds peace. It takes time to build relationships, trust, cooperation and collaboration. That last term is a tough one. Collaboration. Two or more parties working together to achieve shared results working toward mutually shared goals. This may be finding water or energy supplies for the long term. It could be combating global warming to protect human life for the long term, and maintain and conserve quality of natural resources. It could also be the shared goal of peace. Simply that.

However, we all know it is not that simple. It takes work and trust to eliminate hostility and animosity among peoples of differing cultures.  Such are complex notions that require study to understand.  Trust takes a leap of faith that the partners will get along because in the long run it makes sense for both of them. So too the world.

Egos get in the way. Ideologies disrupt cooperation as well. Pride and hubris rear their ugly head. I guess it is the ugly part of mankind that some people simply have to feel superior to others. Why else the combat among religions, forms of art and music, politics, anti gay, anti women, anti immigrant…the whole anti brigade of issues and topics that otherwise sane people toss into daily living.  These are negative forces. They need to be avoided and neutralized in some way.

Getting along. I think it begins with the feeling that I’m OK and accept myself. It sure makes it easier to accept the other person and feel OK about them. So much can be accomplished after that point. So much.

Why then don’t the powers of good come together to silence the negative efforts of the spoilers? ISIS needs to be confronted and tamed. America alone cannot do it. And it should not. This is a global problem in need of a global community solution. Where is NATO, SEATO, UN and other power cooperatives in this matter? Will they step forward to aid the challenge of this crisis?

This is where the goal of peace resides. In the middle of the trouble spots. Where are the leaders when we need them?

Right now?

September 3, 2014