That materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to
satisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a
fresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing
problems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society
bespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite
rather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common
remedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of
attitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn
concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of
ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a
united search for appropriate solutions?
Those who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this
advice. “If long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if
certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote
the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to
the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and
relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should
these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be
exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human
institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are
solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not
humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any
particular law or doctrine.”
II
Banning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing
germ warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important
such practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process,
they are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence.
Peoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to
use food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and
terrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and
dominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of
humanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or
disagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be
adopted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account