I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the violence engulfing our world today. Whether in countries 7,000 miles away or in our own backyards.

Humans are unique in the animal kingdom as we have the wherewithal to recognize the pain and suffering we’re experiencing but still actively choose to inflict it upon others — our future leaders, our neighbors, our fellow Homo sapiens. The cycle of abuse, hurt, violence and hate is passed on. There isn’t an effortless fix. 

Recognizing how that cycle destroys the world around us and taking a stand to no longer perpetuate it is the only way to stop it permanently.

It’s easy to make these observations while in a multimillion-dollar building, thousands of miles away from any active war zone, surrounded by creature comforts and fresh air in Eugene, Oregon.

I recognize we’re not on the front lines, however, I also recognize that I have a platform to demand change. Not using it would be a disservice to those in need without their own bullhorn from which to shout.
Martin Niemöller summed up this sentiment post-WWII. “Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Apathy is the silent companion to bigotry, hate and fear. Fear is a powerful instrument. It is easy to wield against our natural instincts.

We’re built to seek out our tribes in life. Coded in us is a desire to be a part of a pack, a cohort of like-minded individuals. Since the dawn of recorded history, we’ve seen people weaponize that desire and use it to justify the unjustifiable.

Just as breathing is coded into our DNA, so too is our sense of desire for a community. What is lost in so many is that we’re all part of a pack from birth. The humanity pack.

Instead of that recognition, we’re inundated with neighbor-versus-neighbor violence. Whether it be Democrats and Republicans, Nationalists and Loyalists, Protestants and Catholics, Israeli and Palestinian, Kuki and Meitei, Christian nationalism and antithetical views. By creating divisions — such as religious belief, it becomes easier to justify the horrible treatment we execute.
While we have seen many cases where violence seems never-ending, we also have cases that provide hope. Look no further than ‘The Troubles’ of Northern Ireland. Decades of violence and hate ended through two referendums– the Good Friday Agreement. Pens, not guns. Words, not car bombs. Concessions, not divisions. That’s what ended 30 years of torment.

To break the bonds of hate and violence we need one generation to acknowledge the suffering and refuse to pass it down to the next. 

I’m not so naive as to think that one article in a magazine will change the world, rather, change can’t happen if no one makes a statement. If there are no calls for our fellow humans to behave better, care more deeply about our connections as one group, then the spread of hate and conflicts of war will continue to thrive.

In the end, we are who and what we stand up for.