The UN Secretary General has invited YouTube members to tell the worlds leaders what needs to be done to make the world a better and safer place.
Well, were all world leaders in that we each have within us the power to lead our own lives. So this is a challenge to everyone, not just diplomats and heads of state.
I have four suggestions.
First: If you already support a world-changing movement, keep at it. There are lots of great ones, filled with dedicated people who are doing a lot, and who can do even more when contributors pitch in.
Second: For just a moment, Id to draw public attention away from celebrity T&A and toward the festering tragedy of Iraqi refugees. Over a million people have fled to Syria and Jordan, and even more are still displaced within Iraq itself.
Since part of an ambassadors job is to send home accurate reports and analysis, my message back to people in the United States need to hear this: Remember the Pottery Barn rule. If we Americans intend to repair our countrys reputation as an honest champion of freedom and democracy, then well have to couple that effort with real demonstrations of mercy and compassion. Theres no better place to start than the refugee camps of the Middle East.
Third: Id like to prompt an attitude change regarding how to address concepts like power and interest.
The prevailing conception of whats normal in international relations is that people are doomed to perpetual war and never ending clash, as if fated to live like beasts in a jungle. Thats wrong. We have free will, and we can rise out of that jungle.
In fact, the long-term trend in human civilization is that were learning to affiliate and collaborate in larger and larger groups. In fact, nearly every surviving spiritual culture shares principles of compassionate reciprocity, like the Golden Rule. In fact, nearly every enduring ethical system challenges us to extend our sense of kinship and fairness as far as it can go.
Still, many people think that having a better world depends on wiping out certain individuals or nations or ideas that they dislike or fear.
Its time to reconsider old stories like David and Goliath. The greatest glory is not in beheading ones enemies, but in making them reliable allies. The day may come when we recognize that all war is fratricide, and that every rock thrown, every bullet shot, and every bomb dropped repeats the tragedy of friendly fire.
Finally: I invite people watching this to try a Facebook application I created called WeVote. Its an attempt to create better tools for better democracies.
What if there really could be some institution of global ambassadors? What kind of system would we need to pick our representatives and delegate instructions? Its fine to promote photo-ops with celebrity humanitarians and crowd-sourced pundits. But if were serious about using web technologies to host global venues for democratic discourse, nows as good a time as any to start thinking things through.
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