We like to talk about climate change as an existential threat to humanity, but what about endemic disease, solar flairs, and asteroid strikes? And how does mercy figure in the global equation?
What were you thankful for this past Thanksgiving? If you were reading the papers or following the media in general, probably not too much. For weeks now, inflation and supply-chains have dominated news cycles, and with valid reason; many people have (and will continue to) suffer from decades of irresponsible behavior both publicly and privately. For example, it's really hard to complain about supply-chains when the American consumer, in their endless pursuit of more cheap foreign-made gewgaws, has corralled themselves into an Asian cul-de-sac. Likewise, bemoaning inflation when we keep demanding more programs and less taxes from the government we indeed elect, is equally disingenuous, as that borrowed money percolates through the bloated economy diluting currency and raising prices.
But that's not the point of this essay; not really. Because the myopic examples cited above are only symptomatic of a bigger problem that is far more disturbing than delayed dolls and prohibitive gasoline prices; the problem at hand here is the inability for humans to make rational decisions regarding their own self-preservation.
Since the spring of 2020 The Socratic Review has consistently maintained that whatever vaccines might appear on the planet regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, they would be useless unless the world (read: the-en-ti-re-planet!) achieved between 75 and 85% vaccination rates - otherwise - the unvaccinated "rest-of-the-world "would become a gigantic Covid variation petri dish. In the past we have gone on to specifically cite Africa and Asia as potentially prime variant hot spots.
So here we are - right in time for the winter holidays - and up from Africa comes the Omicron variant.
As flippant as that might sound, it's deadly serious - regardless of whether this particular variant proves to be dangerous, deadly or not - because two years into this pandemic (and aiming for a third) we seem to be as pathetically paralytic as ever with regard to pragmatism and international cooperation. I am no internationalist by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a pragmatist of the first order, and the willful disregard of commonsense (let alone common decency) is rather disconcerting, especially when it comes on the verge of the holiday season when so many self-proclaimed "Christians"are professing "peace on earth and goodwill toward man."
I put "Christians" in Italicized quotes here for a reason; namely because I have to wonder what Gospels these"Christians" are reading. It's not even a question of the meek inheriting the earth; shouldn't we at least be striving to be merciful, so that someone, somewhere might show us mercy down the line?
Mercy has always been a popular trope; especially around the winter holidays. But what does mercy really entail and how can all people help in pursuing it while at the same time preserving their own ethics, nations and cultures? Is this even possible?
In answer to the first question,"mercy" is defined as"compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence." When it comes to most inter-human interactions these days, we are woefully lacking in mercy. We can barely maintain civil conversations with friends or relatives without utterly disregarding mercy, or worse yet, moving directly into its opposite camp - cruelty. If at the level of our loved ones, neighbors, and co-workers we struggle with mercy, is it any wonder that nation-states have become amplified echo chambers of our selfishness and cruelty?
As to the second question - yes it is possible. When the democracies of the world in the 1930s were faced with fascism (a particularly horrific form of cruelty) they mustered tremendous amounts of mercy both during and after the Second World War. I have no interest in discussing particular war atrocities which are tangential to the ultimate story - but the long and the short of it is this - that fascism was defeated and the vanquished were rebuilt into forms that persist for the most part today. This gives us a reasonable path to follow now. Covid-19 (as I see it) is nothing more than a table reading for the big dramas ahead for humankind, and by that I do not mean global warming, which is about number twenty-five on my list. How are we going to deal with an asteroid or comet strike? A solar flair frying the electrical grid? A lack of fuels for producing electricity? Another more serious plague? Feeding an ever-growing population? Clean water production and distribution? Discovery of an extra-terrestrial intelligence?
These are not "if something happens" scenarios like global warming (which may or may not be mitigated by a volcanic eruption or a solar minimum) these are "when" something happens" scenarios that are unavoidable realities of living on planet earth.
Standing international organizations do not seem to be a solution either. The United Nations (much like the League of Nations that preceded it) is ill designed for mercy. Why? Because like any other standing organization, it is subject to the same old sins of pride and envy that perpetually plague mankind whenever politics meets polarization in a collaborative setting. International law has done best when it is meted out with a specific goal in mind for creating a specific result (think the Geneva Convention). Many internationalists (for example) feel such a convention is necessary for exploring the nature of extraterrestrial life. In a recent piece in Inverse entitled NASA scientists have a new plan: How to report signs of aliens NASA scientists have proposed just that very thing to assure everyone is on the same page with regard to nomenclature and standards.
It would behoove humankind to do this with vaccination; not just with Covid-19, but with all communicable diseases. The time when we could isolate parts of our interconnected world are long since-passed; now a sneeze in South Africa really does mean Vancouver will catch a cold. It would also behoove mankind to take a stab at mercy. Not capitulation; not surrender, and certainly not utopia - but mercy as defined above. The rich and powerful gain nothing at the expense of mercy - especially if mercy helps ease the way of their own people. We can decry illegal immigration (as this publication routinely does and will continue to do) but this does not relieve all of us of meting-out mercy which will mitigate the effects causing these migrations in the first place. We spend billions on nonsense that offers very little return; social spending per se has demonstrated negative effects; but then, social spending is not based on mercy. Pity perhaps - but not mercy. Having pity for the disadvantaged and throwing pennies at them in the street is a far cry from sending medical brigades into battle against a common enemy (which I feel is what we should have done with this pandemic from the start).
At the beginning of World War II, Franklin Roosevelt was in a classic mercy dilemma. He recognized the dangers of fascism, felt for the plight of Europe, and feared for the long-term damage a fascist Europe and Africa could wreak on the rest of the world. He also found himself hamstrung by an isolationist nation and its reciprocally isolationist congress. But Roosevelt was a pragmatist above all else, and in devising "Lend-Lease," bought valuable time for the United Kingdom. Lend-Lease however resonates in our time as well. Do we really want to aid Africa and Asia forever and enslave them or do we want to lend them a hose to put out a house fire? Do we benefit from having their house burn-down when the sparks will inevitably blow over to our roof? Pity leads to a start - mercy leads to a plan, and pragmatism leads to a result.
However, if all these rather pragmatic and sensible arguments fail [like what will the United States do when a solar flair fries a grid powering server farms in India, or a good sized meteor hits London versus Siberia (in 1908 that was avoided by approximately six minutes)] we Christians (31.11% of the world's population) can fallback on the founder of our faith who made mercy a priority and pointed out his way was "alpha and omega - the beginning and the end." And lest we think we're alone in this quest, we have Hinduism (15.58% of the world's population), Buddhism (6.62% of the world's population) and Islam (24.90% of the world's population) who all basically believe in the same fundamental concepts of mercy. That's 78.21% of the world's population.
So let's use this holiday season to practice mercy. Let's start at the dinner table and holiday party, and work our way out from there; as the old saying goes - charity does begin at home. And in the new year let's hold our elected officials to some standard of mercy. Let's make them understand graft and indiscriminate spending is not mercy but bribery. And then we can have enlightened conversations on how individuals can bring about mercy free from ego but not devoid of self-interest because we really are "all in this thing together" as the cliche goes. A little mercy today may go a long way tomorrow. We certainly know it works that way when cruelty is pursued.
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