Of course we hope that was the headline splashed all over our newspapers but alas that is not the case. As I have gotten older, two things have gotten worst one has been the weather and the other has been the violent potency of terrorist groups.
Remember when everyone was talking about the destruction of the ozone layer and protesting the destruction of the rain forest. There were conferences, concerts and creation of groups and organizations to create awareness of this phenomena and suggest ways to handle the ever-changing weather patterns. Then those who wanted to destroy the environment and those who wanted to protect it got into a fight and started to pour money and resources into marketing their point of view and make nice brochures. And then religion got involved and how God controls everything and if He/She wants to increase the temperature and make it a beat balmy in January that is not for you to question, just move over and let me build my mansion in a place where there use to be a forest and a bunch of animals roaming around! At the same time those who happened to be the biggest advocates for protecting the environment also created nice, glossy brochures but lived in huge mansions that could hold ten extended families from the developing world! In the meantime more water systems were polluted and the modern woman instead of walking five kilometers to fetch water from the river, had to drive 5 kilometers with her SUV to her local grocery store and pack her car with ten bottles of water which she could not get from the tap that was in her kitchen because she polluted her waterways, by the chemicals that the company she worked for send up in the air which in turn came down as acid rain into the river . After all those years, thousands of expert analysis and billions of dollars we have turned the regular storm into a super storm...I just say well done!
And about terrorism, this is what I remember, first everyone talked about fighting terrorist groups, but then no one could agree who a terrorist was. So countries got together at the UN and other nice places and buildings and argued and fought about who is a terrorist and how to deal with them.
While countries stood divided on dealing with this phenomena, and pointing fingers at each other, the terrorists, like the weather evolved from a regular seasonal storm to an unpredictable super storm, causing massive destruction in their path. The terrorists of the past did kill innocent people and caused damage but no could imagine that after decades of trying to curb their activities terrorist groups would evolve into such a sophisticated, ideological, brutal killing machine.
Whether dealing with the weather or terrorist groups, they don't know borders! The super storm does not operate only in one country and stop at the border of Country A and say I will wait for my visa to come before I proceed to destroy Country B! Same thing can be said of the fluency by which terrorists and their extremist ideology crisscross the globe. Today there are thousands of non-Syrians, non-Iraqi and non-Afghans fighting in these countries from as far as America and Europe. The new terrorist, like their super storm counterpart act decisively, destructively and ensure maximum damage. While the international community wants to think that its thinking globally, the fact is that its still stuck in the realities of the world controlled solely by national interest. The bitter truth is that the terrorists are much more global in thinking that us the normal people living under the "national interest" governments! Though the extremists want to bring back their fictional 7th century heaven, they are in fact using modern 2015 tactics to obtain it.
We must broaden our visions and encourage and pressure our governments to increase global cooperation and provide real resources to battle with the issues of the time. Citizens around the world must be encouraged to engage each other and be able to communicate freely and share solutions to the problems of daily lives. A new determination to create networks amongst the governments and peoples of the world is the only way to tackle obstacles that ails our planet today be it global warming or terrorism.
I have some more good news for you but I will save it for next time!!!
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