First a disclaimer... There are many of my friends going through intensely
personal tragedies. Illnesses, deaths,
job loss. This is not to minimize those very
important and painful things.
A picture
of a toddler washed up on the beach in a far off land has stopped me in my
tracks. So this is going to be rambly.
And likely contradictory. Because life
is kind of like that. And yeah, I’m
going to put a picture of the toddler here.
Because no one should look away.
I get up, I make coffee, I shower with running water that is
hot, I eat food kept from spoiling cooked on an electric device that does not
pump carcinogens into my face. I turn on
the AC, get in my car, drive to my job, that pays less than most people think
it does, but still enough that I can manage all that for the most part. I enjoy it, it is clean and safe and has a
whole list of perks I can save for another time. I talk about globalization and
neocolonialism, and all that stuff. When
I have spare bucks I donate to causes that promote peace and justice, I
reduce-reuse-recycle as much as I can, but I don’t actually HAVE to. I give bags of toiletries to homeless
people. I can feel good about all
that.
But…that is all privilege.
I know, some of you are going to go “OH NO NOT THE P WORD.” But it really is. I worked really hard to get all that, and it
was not handed to me. But I could have
worked just as hard somewhere else, and not been allowed to drive. Or get a job.
In another place, in another time, it wouldn’t really have mattered what
I did. I would not have access to
education. I would not have indoor
plumbing and central air. I’m well aware
of that actually, and grateful every day.
I’m a firm believer that one should use one’s privilege to address inequality.
But…. I don’t. I give
out bags and donate money, and don’t poison my dandelions. But that’s it, really. I chose to live 20 miles away from my
workplace, instead of closer, so I could walk.
I chose to drive a car that gets pretty good gas mileage, but I drive it
alone. And there are cars with better
mileage. Sometimes my spouse and I are
going the same places, but take two cars instead of sharing because “it’ll be
more convenient.” I turn on air
conditioning in my house, when I’m not even going to be there…because….why?
The hypocrisy of it all hit me this morning as I watched the
news and coverage of refugees leaving Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. In that moment I felt a profound sense of
despair, which still lingers. I have
seen countless images like this; watched coverage of human suffering. I listen to voices who reach out to help and
I had, until this day, a sense of hope, that maybe, some day, we’d get it
right.
But we don’t. Every
generation says we’re going to be the ones to end war. And then, I don’t know, something
happens. They grow up. They have kids and discover that those kids
need to be fed, and that very primal, biological, evolutionary imperative to
make sure the genes live on sends us to offices and factories and stores to
earn money to feed kids. Maybe…there’s
other things I’m sure. But that drive is
really no different from a mother that puts her toddlers on a rubber raft to set
sail into the Mediterranean. If they stay,
it’s certain death. If they go, well,
there’s a chance. And some do make
it. I’d probably take the chance too,
except sitting in my artificially lit, climate controlled office with my
Internet…I’m not sure if I’d have what it takes.
And I will likely not have to see. Because warfare happens elsewhere these
days. And that’s what this is really
about. Refugees are not flocking to
Europe to see the art or tour big castles.
They aren’t pouring across the Texas border in search of hamburgers and
fries and glamourous jobs like cleaning offices and picking strawberries. No, they are simply trying to survive. And they are pretty sure they can’t where
they are coming from. And they’re probably
right.
The true evil in the world isn’t that person over there who
looks differently from you. It’s not the
person who won’t use the right pronoun.
It’s not the person who loves someone that you think they shouldn’t. It’s not the person who BELIEVES something differently
from you. It’s not the person who cut
you off in traffic, or makes you push 1 for English, or flies a flag you
dislike, or wears a uniform, or any of a number of other things you see and
hear. No, the true evil in the world is
WAR and the true purveyors of said evil are the WAR MONGERS who profit off
it.
There is no conflict in the world today that could NOT be
dealt with through diplomacy. You say
you have a right to that piece of land over there? Fine, sit down with others,
present your case, come up with a solution.
You want to govern yourselves?
Cool, let’s see how we can make that happen, or maybe once we talk you
find out that’s not a good thing for you after all. You want control over that natural resource?
Let’s see what we can do. Is it easier?
No. Or at least it’s a different kind of
difficult. It’s got to be cheaper, both
in terms of actual costs, and lives lost and changed forever. But…we don’t do that. We’ve NEVER done that. We’ve got these big brains that SHOULD take a
bit more charge over our more basic instincts for territory and mates, but we don’t
actually USE them for that. And I’m
beginning to think we never, ever will.
