Something Needs To Give

Dear Reader,

Following the recent and on-going unrest about George Floyd's killing and racialism in general, and the cause "Black Lives Matter",  there have been some members of other sectors of society who have responded "All Lives Matter". And isn't this a truism in every sense, because not only are there other people who have an equal right to protest (such as the disabled) but to arrive at a solution needs all society to come together to make all lives matter.

In other words, to distance ourselves from the "make money first" mentality. Yes, money is needed, but surely a balance can be achieved? I would have thought that the current virus experience should have helped to highlight that.

But perhaps we have needed the black protest to highlight the matter more. As pointed out in last week's article, it is only because darkness comes into focus that we see the light more clearly.

Clearly, we continue to operate with dimmed vision, as it has this past week taken a rich young footballer (and a black one at that!) to highlight to our government that children may be starving this summer because of lack of financial help. Presumably it was because the footballer had 'star' status that his message was noted - opposition political parties who have been voicing their concerns in this area had hitherto been virtually ignored or accused of trying to score political points.

It seems to me that our national administration is mostly operating with blinkers on, as various measures to deal with COVID-19 are centralised and kept under tight control rather than seeking input from experts and affected people in a wider field. As a result, other issues tend to be not properly followed through as government ministers remain primarily focused on one major aspect - 'the virus'. 

In short, the notions of 'unity' that are called for to (a) tackle the problems within society and, indeed, (b) climate change, are just not showing signs of being practically arrived at.

The wildlife trade and the destruction of forests and other natural habitats have accelerated the transfer of disease from animals to humans, making humanity more susceptible to global pandemics like coronavirus. These findings are from leaders at the UN, WHO and WWF International, who jointly wrote in the Guardian calling for humanity “to mend our broken relationship with nature”.

And read this - another major warning.

I feel that we are getting to a very critical state, as there is no guarantee of 'the virus' going away and nor are we properly tackling points (a) and (b) just stated. We have to ask the question - how are we to deal with matters if the economy doesn't get back on track? Particularly as it probably will not as it was before when we observe the issues going on around the world, including food production issues. 

As a small example, have you noticed how the price of McVities Digestives has shot up lately? And that's after they reduced their package sizing last year.

More seriously, the USA has deep inner divisions and China is trying to steal land in all kinds of places. India has lost military personnel lately in trying to keep China in check. Even the EU appears to be in a financial crisis that they won't readily admit to.

As has been said for years by those with common sense and insight, the current (essentially western) economic system is virtually broken. The trouble is that Joe Public has not been educated in a way that helps that view to be clearly understood, let alone how it is to be tackled.

Aside from which, any new system will require to be arrived at based on a new set of values - and values that meet human and all ecological needs. Blessings Mitembu (in my previous post) said that by remembering that we are all of one God we can solve the issue. First of all, however, everyone has to come to that point of agreement.

Perhaps we should start working on a systematic plan to that end? I wish I were young enough and qualified enough to put in my own meaningful penn'uth.

Thank you for reading this.