WHY WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD

President Bill Clinton spoke on Monday night, June 28th at a dinner sponsored by the American Himalayan Foundation at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. His topic was "Interdependence and responsibility—why we should care about the rest of the world."

As most Americans know by now, Clinton has always been an extremely engaging speaker. And, he has become even better since he has left office. It seems ex-presidents become far more relaxed and engaging. You might think that Clinton no longer has an agenda to promote. In fact, it is just the opposite; his agenda has expanded. It seems that he is on a mission to save the world.

Clinton began by answering a powerful question: "Why do we all love the Dali Lama? Because he appeals to the universal humanity within us; he’s someone who stands up in the face of systematic oppression." From that point forward Clinton’s message was to an appeal for all of us to tap into our own universal humanity.

We live in a totally interconnected world. He pointed out that reading the newspaper is like an example of Chaos Theory. "It makes you wonder how can so much good and so much bad be happening at the same time." Everything bad and good around the world is an example of interdependence. Once you live in a world where none of us can hide from each other, you’re living in a world where anything can happen. 3000 people from 20 countries were killed in the world trade center.

Two things have changed things forever. First, for the first time, more than half of the people on Earth live under leaders they voted into office. Second, is the utter explosion of NGOs—Non Governmental Organizations. There is suddenly an explosion of citizens who stand in the gap where they effect social, political change in ways government can’t do or won’t do.

We live in a world where more than half the world lives on less than $2.00 per day and a billion people don’t have access to clean water.

"It isn’t like we don’t know what to do about the state of the world. In an interrelated society our common humanity is more important than our differences. We must change our interdependent world to an integrated community."

Perhaps Clinton’s most timely point was this: By abolishing hunger, we will diminish terrorism. His point is that terrorists are recruited from the poor in the world’s ghettos. His view is that Each of us can dramatically impact global poverty by giving just a little amount. He implored the audience: "You cannot stop being citizens. Sweeping change comes from the way we work and live and relate to the rest of the world. We can act as citizens through Non Governmental Organizations. We can always doing good whether or not we agree with the government in power at the time."

He reminded the audience that from our beginnings in Africa millions of years ago, our common history continues to move us from isolation to interdependence to community. "On the whole, I am optimistic." He used examples from the recent past such as the reconciliation of Russia and China and the unprecedented acceptance of diversity worldwide.

The President came full circle: "Why does the Dali Lama move us?" he asked. "Because he is calling us to our natural place." Again he referred to our humanity.

It was wonderful to see and hear Bill Clinton, with the wealth of experience only a former President has, speaking in global terms. After all, our planet has become so small and has so many people sharing it, that in order to live in harmony it is imperative for those who can to extend a helping hand to those in need.

Posted by Tony at June 30, 2004 02:21 PM