Friday the 13th 2015, the day when an apparent terrorist attack struck Paris, and more than a hundred people got killed. The French president responded with saying that the attack is an act of war. However, I would say that this is not a correct assessment of the situation, and more importantly, it is not a effective way of approaching what has happened.
If we roll back the time for a moment, 11th September 2001, two planes flew into the World Trade Center, killing thousands. The American government blamed the Taliban’s and decided to invade Afghanistan, and later Iraq, in the so-called war against terrorism. Obviously, it was never about a war against terrorism, as rather it was a way for the corpocracy of America to feed its enormous military industrial complex. Though, for a moment, let us assume that the war on terrorism was actually a real attempt to make the world a safer place. It is time to ask, did this war actually make the world a safer place?
The simple answer is no, and it takes no rocket scientist to understand that wars, whatever reason that is used to justify them, creates even more consequences. As such – we require a new way of dealing with things, a new way of approaching conflicts, a new way of handling consequences, were we do not hit back but instead look at how the consequence came about, and more importantly how we were a part of creating that particular consequence.
When it comes to terrorist attacks, it is not difficult to understand why some individuals in this world develop an urge to fight back against the establishment with brute force. The reasons are poverty, war, lack of education, and the nonexistence of opportunities. For some, born in the wrong country, at the wrong time, there is absolutely no hope, and for those, terrorism is a way of saying: ‘Look at what you have done to me! Look at what you have done to my life!’ – and that is what we in the western world must understand – that terrorist attacks is an indication that we have to steer things in another direction. Terrorist attacks is as much a cry for help, as they are a sign we humans have not yet been able to unite as ONE group.
Though, I will admit, it is very easy for me to say that ‘we have to change’ – but how to practically do that? What can we possibly do on a individual basis to have any impact on a global level? Truth to be told, there is no single person that can actually change the world, but we can change the world together, through each of us making the decision to stand up in our own lives.
For example, one solution that we can implement is to, when conflicts emerge in our own personal worlds, someone lashing out on us (a micro terrorist attack), that we then look at how we were a part of creating that conflict, and also why that conflict came about, and what we are able to do to in the future, to prevent it and find sustainable solutions – thus living the example of PEACE, CONSIDERATION, RESPONSIBILITY and UNDERSTANDING.
When we live what is best, when we stand as an example of a better, upgraded human being, a human capable of forgiveness, that will have a impact. Maybe it will not come through on a global level, though we will be able to see it in our personal relationships, in our communication with colleagues and acquaintances. And what does this world consist of but personal relationships, family relationships being the very core bonding that holds society together. When these relationships change, it is clear that it will have an effect on other, larger, collective relationship groups as well.
So, consequences are not bad, they are opportunities for learning and self-growth. Each consequence is a sign, a signal, that there is something about ourselves that we can change. This is so equally on a personal as well as global level. Thus, instead of saying that these terrorist attacks are an act of war – let us instead recognize them for what they really are – a cry for help and a indication that we can do better to ensure that each human being on this earth lives a life of dignity.
For more solutions and ways to tackle the current state of human affairs, investigate the Living Income Guaranteed.
A Functional Economy 