It seems like a day does not go by without the news mentioning some terrorist plot or atrocity. In my lifetime there have been atrocities in these countries:
UK, Kenya, France, USA, Israel, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands, Greece, Djibouti, Japan, Spain, Lebanon, Uganda, Argentina, Cuba, Jordan, Indonesia, USSR, West Germany, Malaysia, Italy, Australia, Cyprus, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Belgium, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Yugoslavia, Peru, South Africa, Portugal, UAE, Burma, Libya, Bulgaria, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, Denmark, Philippines, Columbia, Malta, Nicaragua, Pakistan, South Korea, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Afghanistan, Mozambique, China, Algeria, Palestine, Azerbaijan, Panama, Cambodia, Russia, Comoros, Ethiopia, Mexico, Latvia, Tanzania, Serbia, Angola, Macedonia, Tunisia, Yemen, Morocco, Nepal, Eritrea, Bolivia, Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, Qatar, Kosovo, Somalia, Norway, Maldives, Mauritania, Belarus, Georgia, Croatia, Nigeria, Ukraine, Rwanda, Niger, Mali.
Just go through that list. It’s exhausting isn’t it? There are 92 countries (and I am sure I have missed more) that have had some type of terrorist activity from 1975 until now. For what? Religion Money? Land? My God is better than your God? Politics? Power? Now look at the photo of Earth. That’s all we have (so far). That lump of rock hurtling through space at 67,000mph. We all have to co-exist on this rock and yet we walk around like we are still living in caves! I will kill you for believing this, I will kill you for being that. It’s madness. Why do we have to force our beliefs on other people? Who knows what would happen if Earth was threatened by an outside force! We would be so busy fighting amongst ourselves that we probably would not even notice.
It does not have to be like this. From all the travels that I have done, I know that 99% of the world’s population want the same thing. I have been to most of the countries on the list and have been treated amazingly in all of them. The trouble is the people like you and I are getting drowned out by all the fanatics out there. The media do not help either. I know they have to report news but does it always have to be so negative? There are good news stories out there you know! All you have to do is google it and you will see some amazing stories uploaded every day. Why can’t the big networks balance it out a bit more? 50% bad news, 50% good news. What would you have first?
I truly believe there is a battle going on at the moment. There are the groups of people who are stuck in the past and have their heads in the sand and there are other groups that move with the times. The former group is trying to cling on to some old clichéd romantic notion of how things were. Yet if you do a bit of digging the past can never be classed as the good old days! If you are in England all you have to do is read some Dickens to see how hard it was for the poor and for children 150 years ago. Things are still tough but it’s got a lot better.
Ever since the financial crisis the rhetoric of politicians has become much more aggressive towards certain members of society. In most European countries the governments are cutting back on essential services to the members of society that most need it. I know they have to reign in the spending of the past but do they have to cut back so much? I don’t think so. After World War 2 Britain was on its knees financially. The United States lent us money to get back on our feet. We paid the last of that debt back in 2007! That’s not a mistake. It took us 62 years to pay it back. 3 years after the war had ended, Britain launched the NHS. Here is a statement from the NHS website:
The man who brought the health service into being was Aneurin Bevan, a Welsh miner who became a Labour politician. Nye Bevan was handed the responsibility for healthcare and housing by the new prime minister, Clement Attlee, in the first post-Second World War government.
Bevan fought passionately for the NHS. In parliament on February 9 1948 he urged ministers and doctors to “take pride in the fact that, despite our financial and economic anxieties, we are still able to do the most civilised thing in the world: put the welfare of the sick in front of every other consideration”.
Look at that last sentence! “take pride in the fact that, despite our financial and economic anxieties, we are still able to do the most civilised thing in the world: put the welfare of the sick in front of every other consideration”. That is what we should be aiming at now!
Despite the nation being poorer or slipping down the league table of richest countries we will make big business pay their taxes and if they threaten to leave, good riddance.
Despite our financial and economic anxieties, we will not sell off school playing fields to build blocks of flats because children partaking in sport is much more important.
Despite our financial and economic anxieties, we will not sell arms to a state that treats women like 2nd class citizens even if that means we might have to walk a bit more because petrol prices have gone higher.
I could go on. The NHS was created during times of extreme hardship because it was the right thing to do. How I wish that today’s leaders and politicians think on the same lines.
Imagine a group of Aliens wanting to take a holiday on Planet Earth. The way we treat each other at the moment might put them off! Wouldn’t it be better if we could say “Welcome to Planet Earth: It’s an all-inclusive planet”. Even for little green aliens!
Have a great week everyone. Our task of the week is to show more empathy and understanding to our fellow human beings.
Peace & Love,
Paul
[…] Welcome to Planet Earth: an all inclusive planet […]