As I was trip planning for South East Asia, I came across so much reading detailing the war horrors suffered in this part of the world the past 70 years. I got emotional just doing a cursory information gathering of the Thai, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese histories. As always when thinking about human conflict, Carl Sagan’s words came to mind:

“Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.”

How can we keep doing this to each other? How are we still? The Earth is not ours; it’s a privilege, a miracle, for us to be here. How can we squander it?

We must adopt a new paradigm, a new story. We are one species, of billions, on one planet. We must develop global consciousness. It’s greater than economics, greater than politics. It’s greater than such distinctions as race, age, sex, orientation. Only by enacting a new collective story can we heal and move forward.

What do we want? Do we want for us, or for all? Now is the time to decide.