Excerpt #17 from my book, Interconnected, Interrelated & Interdependent, Like It or Not:
A NEW REALITY BASE — SURVIVAL
The failures of our adversarial process and tribal nature are apparent.
Legions of people are dismayed at the damages it has wrought, are disappointed with the results it has achieved, and are weary of the partisan bickering.
Many wonder why issues are allowed to reach such critical levels before remedial action is taken.
They are troubled by what they read, what they observe, and what they experience.
They are concerned about our government’s inability to effectively deal with a complex set of pressing issues.
They grow more skeptical, for example, as they witness efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear war being overshadowed by the introduction of even more devastating weapons.
They are further distressed by similar contradictions, inconsistencies, and stalemates born of controversy.
As they witness opportunities slipping away and problems gravitating toward crises, they are troubled.
“Let us beware . . . of being weakened by internal dissension.” (Benjamin Franklin)
Much of our citizenry is justifiably alarmed at the chilling reality that, as a species, we exist endangered by the ubiquitous threat of a range of life-threatening problems associated with the warming of our planet and associated climate change.
This is not in some distant future; this is now.
Consequently, we are observing multi-faceted individual and collective efforts to thwart this possibility as many flex their instinct for survival.
We have found a common rallying point.
We have identified our enemy and, alas, find it to be ourselves.
For it is each of us — some more than others — who bears the responsibility for recklessly propelling us headlong toward dire fates.
It is a sad, but true, commentary on our society as to the negative and destructive extremes to which we will allow ourselves to be carried.
Only after being personally threatened, do we awaken to the necessity of response, if only for the most elementary of reasons: survival.
As events unfold, it may become obvious that there exists unexpected value in this exercise of awakening and joining forces.
As we learn that we can, and indeed must, join together to reverse our climate-related problems, we will discover that our efforts can serve as a model for a litany of problems to be solved.