Dear Friends,
Today, Monday, April 22 is International Earth Day.
At school, we learn all about reducing, reusing and recycling. We make colourful posters, sing songs, write heart-warming poems, put on skits, and read a great deal of meaningful literature, encouraging us all to respect and preserve our planet.
In every society so much effort goes into saving the Earth for humanity, how about saving humanity for Earth?
The world is huge. Manmade tragedies might be few and far apart, but nowadays, news of violence travels as fast as it's committed. From villages of Africa, India and China to streets of Middle Eastern countries, European and American cities, disturbed governments and citizens are either seeking peace with war or justice with injustice. Those who aspire to sainthood with satanism are not very different from those who think of brutality as a hobby. Terrorist attacks make me wonder whether immigration and refugee pleas to North America have become the Trojan Horse.
Before we teach anyone to value Earth, we should teach everyone to value life, their own and each other's. In schools, we aim to do precisely that. Our character education programs are filled with honourable values and virtues, lessons in gender equality, anti-racism, anti-bullying. Our library shelves are packed with books conveying messages of inclusion and acceptance. However, as long as we are competing against the entertainment industry (Hollywood, TV stations and video games) I can't help but ask, are teachers suffering from a Sisyphean fate?
I know I sound like a cynic simpleton when I ask, is human race worth saving the world for?
We aren't really that different from our gladiator ancestors who killed for divertissement. Humanity hasn't evolved, only electronics have. Accepted and filed! What have you accepted and filed today?
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