01 July 2011
Like a House on Fire
How global crises are forcing old enemies to relate as friends.
A friend of mine called me the other day and told me a pretty interesting story. The central character of this story was, Jeremy, his long-time neighbor. These two neighbours don’t have a very good relationship. Jeremy happens to be a hopeless drunk, and his drinking habit hasn’t exactly helped their neighbourly relationship. One evening, my friend was outside washing his car when he heard Jeremy calling for help. When he glanced across the fence, he noticed that an intoxicated Jeremy was sprawled out on the lawn, which wasn’t completely unusual. Except on this occasion Jeremy’s kitchen was on fire. Jeremy, in his drunken state, had been trying to cook, fell asleep and...well, the rest pretty much scripted itself.
My friend was livid. He had always complained that one day Jeremy would literally kill himself, and it would be entirely deserved because of his reckless living. But almost as soon as he had this thought anger gave way to terror as he realised that Jeremy’s recklessness could cost him his own home. And with that thought, he picked up his bucket, jumped the fence and started to douse the threatening flames. As my friend finished the story, he said, “I never thought I would see the day when I would lift a hand to help that man.”
This got me thinking. Here is my friend, angry as hell, but compelled to forego his animosity because of a startling recognition of the interconnectedness of their lives. The fact of the matter is that this is no different from the reality facing all nations today. This has become, in rather dramatic fashion, the nature of our world.The issues of a nation state are not self contained but interconnected. Threats do not respect geo-political boundaries as we may hope they would.
There are many global crises confronting world leaders today: cyber-security, climate change, natural disasters, environmental degradation, the global food crisis, the energy crisis, natural resource depletion, epidemics, terrorism. The all-too-familiar list goes on. Like my friend, global leaders are forced to become less concerned with who started the problem, and to more attentive to dealing with the burning issues. Pun intended. There is a shift in leadership consciousness taking place in the world today.
When U.S. officials met with Taliban leaders for months of quiet diplomacy, one of the highest-ranking members of the Obama Administration reportedly commented, "Only now are we beginning to see the kind of outreach that evidences a willingness to discuss the future." Contrast this to the simultaneous public outcry against such a norm-breaking approach to US foreign policy. It is clear that though the shift is underway, many are yet to understand and embrace it. In a world as complex as ours, there are conditions under which enemies must relate as friends. Like it or not.
The basic inescapable truth is that nations have to learn to exist in functional community. “Functional” because it has to be pragmatic and practical relative to the current needs of global society. The challenges and patrimonies that we all have in common are creating the context for a new leadership values-base. New global circumstances are forcing a new appreciation for the interconnectedness of all nations. At the same time they pronounce judgement upon parochial, self-centred decision-making. Action geared towards the benefit of all, grudging though it might be, has become a necessary leadership requirement for tackling many of the world’s problems.
At the end of our conversation, I asked my friend, irritated as he was, whether he would consider assisting in getting Jeremy some help with his drinking problem. There was a long silence on the phone. And then he said, “You know, that might not be a bad idea.”
Comments (14)
We can no longer ignore what is happening on the other side of the fence. Demarcations of boundaries will only remain on paper as a map but in reality we live in a border-less world. A good example is the worst drought in 60 years facing the horn of Africa where Kenya which is also badly hit and cannot feed its populace and has found himself having to host fleeing refugees from Somalia who are escaping starvation and thirst.
It is amazing to see the interconnectedness that the world is in. Like the proverbial ostrich no nation can lock itself and remain self-satisfactorily. The world systems are connected across the globe. Consider the financial crisis taking place in the earth. It resulted from greed in one nation and it spread like wild fire across the nations of the earth. The world must embrace a paradigm shift in its leadership which must be values-based.
Glad I've finally found soemthing I agree with!
i believe although globalization is all well and good conceptually, we may still fail to ever become a fully integrated global society, working together to solve the world’s problems. This is based on the reality that you will always be faced with the challenges of world leaders interlocked in power struggles with one another. Sometimes these power struggles have nothing to do with the betterment of the world but more so economic superiority of one country or nation over another
The facts still remain that leaders of the world need to remember for whom the serve and place petty concerns and frivolous arguments aside and get down to what is important.......Solving World Problems That actually affect the world
This article is a very relevant adaptation to what is happening nowadays in the world. Like the pun intended within the passage, there are many burning on-going issues, such as global warming, the global food crisis and so on. These issues affect not only the poor but also the rich, hence the use of the word global within the phrases. The onset of globalization occurred in the 1990s and started the idea of interconnectivity amongst nation states where an event occurring in one part of the world affects another part of the world. There is the need for everyone to come together to work towards a better future. However, apart from all of these issues, there is strength in number and since everyone is affected by one problem wherever in the world it may arise; it takes everyone to fix that issue. As the saying goes, it takes a community to raise a child.
Its true that we can no longer ignore what is happening on the other side of the fence. Why should we wait for someone else to change to make a difference, when you can make the difference yourself. Countries and global leaders should not have to wait for other countries to change their bad habits when they themselves have an opportunity to do so. From the story i just read, i think if i was Jeremy's neighbor, i would not have waited for him to almost kill himself before i did something. Ask yourselves this, do we really have to wait for something bad to happen to someone or somewhere interconnected to us before we offer help to them?
We have realized that the world is a global village. Technology has allowed us to become interconnected, in that we can immediately witness what our neighbouring countries are experiencing within seconds. It is a fact that we are all dependent on each other actions and if there is any mishap we will be diversely affected in one form or another. Many great leaders who allowed to world to progress came from some of the impecunious countries. Therefore it is important to educate the public and continuously so that we can all perform effectively and work hand in hand for the enhancement of our global society. Persons should not only think about what is beneficial for them, but also consider a desire to help others by convincing them to do what's Ethical for mankind and the world at large.
The author has brilliantly conveyed a sense of unity among nations during a time of crisis. I for one is all for the unity among revolving nations. However, the author has drawn an excellent point with the neighbour, Jeremy the raging alcoholic. Even though people may want to help in a time of crisis, they first must find the route of the problem. Therefore, one can then take the necessary precautions needed to handle any situation that may arise. Furthermore, the author has also refered to the manner in which leaders are handling current situations. They no longer cast judgment on the ones to blame, but try to allocate solutions for the problems afoot. Moreover, similarly to Jeremy and his neighbour, they don’t blame Jeremy for his actions, but try to help him instead, as well as put things in place so that an incident like the fire will never occur again.
''Like a house on fire, '' I found this article quite interesting and on point as we all live in one 'house' the world and if we all are to survive we all have to come together as 'fire fighters' rather than spectators looking on.We all may live within our defined spaces but with every action there is a reaction and the decisions made today bear fruit both positively and negatively with no filter of whom are affected. Globalisation has opened the doors where this has become a reality, no one nation is shielded from the negative issues plaguing the world. The phrase “You know, that might not be a bad idea.” stood out to me. If persons from the man on the street to the leaders in government, think not of who is really responsible but rather like the person in the article attempt to address the deeper issue of what is the reason for the problem, then as a united people we can solve the world's problems. If the leaders of today decided to stop playing the blame game and put aside the ideal of who their allies are and consider the concept of a global community then the burning issues mentioned above will be put to rest. It is as I said before we all live in this world sharing one space so we are all part of the problem if we don't work together to become part of the solution.
Mark I enjoyed your comment about "becoming fire fighters rather than spectators" it provoked some interesting thought for me in regards to crisis (which we have seen a lot of worldwide lately). The aspect of a spectator vs a firefighter causes me to think about the sequence of crisis situations. When looking at this drunken young man one could say that it would have been most helpful to offer help before the fire was ever a spark instead of just reacting during the crisis or after the fact. The neighbor obviously had sight of the early problem and what the consequence might be for the drunken young man but at that point he ignored the problem. The neighbor was concerned but it did not cause him to take actual action until after the crisis occurred. Logically I think early intervention would be best (pre-crisis) but then I think about this on the scale of a nation and wonder what that would look like. I wonder what it would require to "address the deep issues" on a global scale? I would like to see what the world would look like after building stable global connections not motivated by need or greed but cultivated with an understanding of building a proactive core system instead of just a reactionary system when it comes to crisis.
With reference to this article, which entails that global crises are forcing old enemies to relate as friends I agreed with the author where the issues of a nation state are not self contained but interconnected. Global crisis affects us all and we must be interconnect as one family and solve this problem together. Every human being in this world should have a level of pride, dignity and level of morality within us in which we have to start thinking global. All classes of people including world leaders should adapt a good thinking system (From the topic, ‘the impact of ethics’) which consists of safeguard (destructive effects of wrong choices); the direction which instructs your decision making process to a desired outcome; empowers (to make the clear, sustainable and accurate choices and to provide an account of the choices made). Currently in reality, people should begin to help each other despite the odds and ignore what’s in the past and solve global crisis.
A very interesting article, it does certainly highlight an imminent truth – (or perhaps it is already happening), for over a decade now global leaders have been meeting to discuss the global climatic changes and have actually come together to decide on the strategic steps to be taken to keep our planet pollution free and this in itself is proof of the very point in this article. The continual decline of climatic balance and the increasing trends of globalization not only create opportunity for dialogue but it does certainly force together those that would not usually be willing to come together – in this case not only for dialogue but for actual change for the greater good. This is seen in how at the end of the article – the friend actually does consider helping Jeremy with his drinking problem. This is also seen in global dialogues – as much as first world countries wouldn’t want to consider it but they all have to reduce carbon emissions to a certain percentage because of their comrades sinking in the Pacific (because of the rise in sea level), a reality that at one point was merely heard of but now the pleas of Pacific Island countries sinking into the Pacific waters have become quite an issue globally and one that continues to increase as global paradigms slowly turn towards ‘Green Environment friendly’ ways. For the greater good – inevitably individual preferences are forsook to maintain the greater good and this does in a way creates avenues for values based leadership to arise globally. The awakening results of threatening crises throughout the globe does bring people to a greater realization that the boundaries of living ethically and in governance was always meant to keep the perfect order.
I must agree with Mr Jimton when he said that Demarcation of boundaries will only remain on paper as a map but in reality we live in a border-less world. Additionally I believe there is no such thing as an independent nation or state and independency is a state of mind. Owing to globalization, we are all interconnected and dependent of each other action and we should stop being incognizant to what is happening around the world. The world should not only look to the leaders for the solution, but the solution should start with us as individuals. From the abstract it was good to see that the world leaders were putting aside their differences and coming together for a common purpose of solving the world problems, looking for a prevention rather than a cure.
"The issues of a nation state are not self contained but interconnected." At no point in history has this ever been more true. Flooding in Pakistan and India causes a loss of cotton and rice crop leading to higher cost of clothes and food in the world market. Flooding or drought in the mid-West USA causes reduced yield of the crop leading to increased cost of flour on the world market. War in a middle east country causes a higher price of oil leading to everything being affected, because the world runs on oil. Clearly we are a global society, and we can no longer isolate one country from the whole. We are all inter-connected and inter-dependent. This trend will continue, and we will progress to the point where the physical demarcation of a country's border will be irrelevant. The implications to future leaders are clear. The time for blame is past, and we must all now work together to ensure that the burning issues such as poverty, hunger, disease, climate change, sea level rise and animal habitat destruction are resolved.