The Real Evil

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.