Each week seems to present us with a new humanitarian crisis. Israel’s announcement that it plans to appropriate four hundred more hectares in Gaza barely holds our attention and raises no condemnation from our Government. ISIS moves through Iraq seizing new territory and wreaking horrific violence on all who do not ascribe to their beliefs. Russia moves army troupes, weapons, and equipment into Ukraine amid ineffectual opposition of other nations. Civil wars, oppression, and violent suppression of citizens continue in Syria and other countries.
In developed countries, mutual entanglement in economic systems, the need for continued access to resources, such as oil, and knowledge of the terrible costs of war deter us from engaging in major warfare. We are well aware that the use of force to overcome force fails to achieve desired outcomes and makes our planet even more unsafe. Consider the fallout of interventions in Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Defeated nations harbour hate and desires for revenge. Even some of our own citizens choose to adopt abhorrent creeds and join terrorists at home or in faraway places.
Our world has shrunk. Immigration, refugees, travel, communication, threatening new diseases and weapons mean that we are all neighbours and the effects of our disputes far exceed the damage that resulted from the Hatfield-McCoy feuds. We need to begin as individuals to think differently if we are to live at peace with each other. Governments, financial institutions, and multi-national corporations have to move beyond self-interest to consider the good of all humanity and our environment. This has to start somewhere and that somewhere is with us. We need to, become reflective thinkers and explore our own beliefs, values, and practices. As the anthropologist Margaret Mead declared, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has”
Pat McKeon, CSJ