Out of Despair, there should always be Hope

Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash

Where are our visionary leaders? Our Moses — our Martin Luther King Jnr? If they are out there, so far they have been ominously silent. We need their voices and energy more than ever. This unprecedented crisis that we are enduring has pulled back the covers from two blatantly obvious things that have been hiding from our eyes in plain daylight. If they are out there, this is their moment to step up onto the world’s stage before we are smothered by the actions of the morally and politically blind and misguided.

Nations are turning inwards, rehashing the solutions last touted in the 1930s. The world then was fiercely guarding its nation-states borders in false independence and suspicion. Two world wars followed in disturbingly quick succession because of the preaching of self-interest and pursuit of power and influence. Ambitious leaders today are once again rising to prominence on these outdated models, brainwashing us to follow, as we concern ourselves with the desire for security and cultural preservation. If we want to learn from history, the real lesson is that our technological world has introduced possibilities, concepts and social change never before experienced. The aspirations we have in the so-called developed world are also desired in those parts not so fortunate. To attempt to keep the monopoly on these things is suicide. Ask the ancient Romans how their “keep-out” policies worked for them against the barbarian Germanic tribes. Governments need to learn to cooperate on an international scale to solve our modern problems. It is evident that they cannot be solved behind the closed doors of individual nation-states as this pandemic will attest to. Building walls and blaming others achieve only the sowing of confusion and this is the breeding ground for partisanship, disruption, mass-protest, and revolution. We need new models and brave visionaries more than ever. The defenders of the old guard who continue to enrich themselves under the guise of advancing their respective countries need to be exposed. The economic pipelines that bleed dry the hopes and living conditions of the less fortunate need to be shown for what it is. If we continue like this, mass migrations will continue exponentially. It is a phenomenon old and natural as long as humanity existed. We cannot stop it, and our Titanic will inevitably sink as the pitchforks come for us…