When did the lens change direction?
When did we stop looking forward, and start looking back?
When did vision and idealism begin to fade in credibility and practicality?
It this truly a reflection of the ‘civilised’ world?
How did we get here? And how on earth to we go forward?
Events of the past 30 days have been a punch in the stomach to the global community, to the human psyche.
Sickening.
Clearly, in today’s day and age, passivism is no longer an option.
The issues our world is facing, across geography, languages, religions, political positions and predispositions, are real, they are raw, and they risk tearing us apart.
Sitting back and watching is no longer an option.
Whether Brexit, the US Elections, the French Elections, or any of the other decision days around the globe over the past 24 months, and in the months ahead, ‘democracy’ is evolving from a noun to a verb.
From a theory to a responsibility.
From a ‘before’ to an ‘after’.
And sadly, from an ‘above’ to a far, far ‘below’.
How is it that the hype, the short-term rhetoric and political pageantry, has been able to penetrate the concept of dignified, uniting, uplifting legacy?
Whatever decisions we have the right, and responsibility, to take, whether related to nations, institutions or otherwise, our focus must, must shift beyond today, past the noise, above the storms.
We are bigger than this. We are better than this. Our definition of the future looks further than this. Not just because it can – because it must.
And because ‘idealism’ is not simply a word, it is an essential verb.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2017