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The Golden Rule, applied
globally
The Last Word | by Editor Tim Miejan
Each of us is part of the human community. We are as strong as the strongest among
us, and we are as weak as the weakest among us. We are as ethical as the most ethical
among us, and we are as corrupt as the most corrupt among us. Like it or not, that's
who we are.
Some of us, when we ponder life as we know it, think in terms of the human community.
When incredible fortune comes to someone who had endured hardship, we celebrate as
one. When tragic misfortune strikes, we innately respond, as human beings, with sadness.
Such is the case as the genocide in Rwanda 10 years ago, in which 800,000 people
were killed in a span of 100 days, and 2 million others fled to neighboring countries
and hid in forests and swamps to avoid being raped, tortured and chopped up on the
run from terrorists in their own country.
Such is the case today in Sudan, the largest country in Africa, about the size of
a quarter of the continental United States. An estimated 2 million people have been
killed since 1983 as a result of civil war between an extreme Islamic government
and forces opposed to it. Half a million people have been displaced to neighboring
countries, and an estimated 3-4 million people have been displaced within their own
nation and face widespread starvation and malnutrition. The conflict in the western
province of Darfur erupted in 2003 after signs of peace between the warring factions.
In Darfur alone, government troops allegedly armed Arab militias and began a campaign
of ethnic cleansing by killing 50,000 people, raping and torturing and displacing
1.2 million people from their homes.
Like the current film, Hotel Rwanda, depicting the tragedy there, will the human
community wait until Hotel Sudan is released on the big screen in a decade -- complete
with Oscar nominations and international acclaim for depicting such a human disaster
with honesty and feeling -- before it realizes how much suffering has taken place?
The biggest question that faces us, as Americans, is the role we can play to minimize
the effect of such catastrophes. As part of the world's remaining Super Power, is
there something we can do to help the victims, without invading and rebuilding nations
in our image?
Another question that faces us, as Americans, is to what extent will our occupation
of Iraq, in the face of no direct evidence that the Iraqi government contributed
to the death of Americans on 9/11, be mimicked by other powerful dictators who want
to influence other nations in ways not supported by the international community?
Some believe that all things inherently play out as they are intended. Lee Carroll,
channeler of the Kryon energy, told me last week (during an interview that will be
published in our August edition) that while the implementation of it could have been
done differently, the U.S. invasion of Iraq is contributing greatly to agitate energy
that has long remained stuck and inflexible in the Middle East. Perhaps the remaining
Super Power's responsibility is to stir the pot in regions that are not moving in
alignment with the rest of the world. Or perhaps its responsibility is to set an
example of authenticity and integrity, to model behavior that it wants to see in
other nations.
While America views itself sitting high upon a pedestal, with the rest of the world
looking up in awe, perhaps more in alignment with truth is the fact that this nation
has forgotten that a true leader never forgets its place in the community at large.
It never puts itself above the others and never forgets that a chain is only as strong
as its weakest link. America is part of an interconnected global chain of governments,
an intrinsic band of brothers and sisters who have much more in common than anyone
really knows.
I am left wondering how -- and when -- this nation will remember who it is.
Tim Miejan is editor of Edge Life magazine. Contact him at (651) 578-8969, toll-free
1 (888) 776-5687 or e-mail editor@edgelife.net
Copyright © 2005 Tim Miejan. All rights reserved. |
| July 2005 |
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