Humanity and its greatest Affliction

We are looking at an unprecedented flow of migration that will only increase if the world community fails to prevent further conflicts (in fact, full blown wars) and to pacify the old ones.

But, the rich of this world worry about their prosperity, the middle classes are afraid of their hard-earned status, and the poorer of society simply don't have anything to share. 

So, should we shut them all  out - the strangers on our doorsteps looking so different from us? Do we need to be afraid of them? At least that's what populists from the extreme right, with their vile and racist slogans, are preaching from every pulpit they can find. Their goal is to wipe out the values ??and rights our fathers and grandfathers died defending in two world wars. 

The inevitable question we now have to ask ourselves is: Do we want to let this happen and idly stand by, while democracy is eroded and gutted, soon to be replaced by authoritarian regimes? 

We need to remember that freedom and democracy are not inherent rights. Instead, they were hard fought for. It took centuries of enlightenment and progress to acquire these rights. For a long time now, populations in Western democracies have taken their freedoms and rights for granted. Their younger generations, born after world War II, grew up in relative peace never having experienced suppression, let alone war. They are slowly coming to realise an old truth:

We are now at a crucial crossroads in our social development and must ask ourselves: HOW do we want to live in the future, but above all, WHO do we want to be?

Apart from having to deal with an extraordinary change in the world of work, through sophisticated technologies and, thus, rapidly growing automation, it is also our moral and ethical future we will need to consider.. 

You see, an old and dangerous disease has broken out again! It has always been latent in all societies of the world. So far, none has succeeded in eradicating it.

Humanity has been infested with and afflicated by this disease so often in its history - always with catastrophic consequences for future generations - that one would assume mankind were immune to it by now. Quite the opposite is true! Every time, racism and hatred reared their ugly heads, in the end, war and immense human suffering were the consequences. And each time, violence and destruction were worse than before.

Read also

• War, Climate And Displacement As The Common Denominator Of Hunger
• Little souls clipped of their wings to never fly
• Masters of War

Comments

There are no comments for this article.

You are not allowed to post comments. Please login.

Next article

Words