Anyone who now denies we are one interdependent human species across borders on Mother Earth is not alive to the moment we share today.
It’s time to mean it when we speak of the sanctity of life. When people across the globe are working to save lives, we must end this country’s habitual practice of endangering and killing people who are “not like us.”
President Trump declared a “war footing” to combat the “foreign enemy” coronavirus. It might be said that all that unites the U.S. is military spending, our culture wallowing in violence and nationalist fear mongering.
A culture that bankrupted itself on foreign wars while enriching the global One Percent is not a sane or healthy society. The Abrahamic religions teach that ethical behavior and money making don’t go together. We’ve lost this distinction. Let’s demand a global cessation of hostilities. Let’s foster sustainable communities and give space for the world to heal.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an immediate global ceasefire saying, “End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world. … That is what our human family needs… .” Let’s make this more than a pause and rethink the ways in which we interact as people and as nations.
Let us reevaluate our unsustainable way of life. The rule of the One Percent has confronted us with the destruction of our planet. Our prejudice toward war is being revealed. Political-theorist Hannah Arendt wrote, “In every historical crisis, it is the prejudices that begin to crumble first and can no longer be relied upon.”
It should not take a pandemic to awaken us to our interdependence, but now that we are here, let’s make the most of this opportunity.
Jack Wikse
Faculty Coordinator, SSU Extended & International Education
Susan Lamont
Former Board Member and Coordinator, Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County
