The Earth Does Not Belong To Us...
We Belong To The Earth.”

                                   -Chief Seattle

    
           A beautiful, magical place; She thrives with ecosystems and sunrises, temperature fluctuations and full moons.  The earth is a vessel, pulsating with dreams, life to be seen—miles beneath and above Her surface. 
           According to astronomers, Mother Earth carries us around the sun at speeds of 107,300 km/h (or 67,062 miles per hour).  At this very moment, we are all moving faster than the combined speed of 200 airplanes.  Somehow, engrossed in our daily activities, it is almost natural for us to forget how thankful we should be.  How is it we can firmly plant our feet?
           We spend our time pillaging Her wilderness, tearing the freedom from Her winds.  Not yet confident with embracing capriciousness, we act as a child with a toy that is not his.  Putting a nametag on space that cannot be owned, we claim it as the only way for us to identify the world.
          Born into a prison, the boundaries of our cage the lines drawn on a map which distinguish one’s nation-state.  Birthed on an earth that when viewed from space, contains no lines marking territory.
          There are few things so unaligned with Her sublimity then the discrimination faced by virtue or vice of your birth-nation.  It’s the country name that is written on your passport that determines how you are treated in airports or in other countries—it either enables or disables you from receiving a Visa for traveling.
          Yet, She doesn’t sway.  Moving at speeds faster than we can imagine, She refuses to regulate the sun’s brilliance, She allows its rays to penetrate into every corner of Her being—and shine upon all of our faces equally.  Peace lies somewhere between Mother Earth’s continental drifts and orgasms.  It is nudged somewhere between Her banana trees and ant colonies.
          Until we dissolve the borders that separate and divide humanity, we will always be caught somewhere between Her desires and our fears.
          Her desire——to set us free.
          Our fear——freedom. 
    
          Yes, it is true.  Borders exist.  But how shall we pass them?  How shall we roam free upon Her hillsides?  Walk placidly across Her shores?  How shall we experience what maps cannot explain to us?
          This is what She told me, “I believe the system of nation-states is one of the greatest tangible forms of racism and discrimination that persists on my surface. Why my children, do you worship zoos and straitjackets?”
          “But where do we begin?” I asked.  “How do we free ourselves?”
          “Remember that consciousness begins in language.  The necessary transformation begins in one’s attitude and perspective.”
          A universal language She speaks—both practical and hypnotizing.  It is centuries of labor that enable a flower to bloom.  A baby walks only after falling down. 
          Can you hear them?  People in Iraq chant, “Allah Bless Iraq” and people in the United States sing, “God Bless America.”  Both of these are common phrases—serving a time and place—of war and violence.
          More than likely, you have heard it from Algeria to Indonesia, from Norway past Madagascar.  We have all in the world experienced to some degree the call for solidarity, a call attempting to pit one part of the world against another. 
          However, I maintain, it is both of these usages of language that perpetuate a consciousness of war, that encourage us to continue to conquer and divide Her gifts, as if She is ours. 
          It is humanity’s inability to see the bigger picture, to see how we are part of something greater; our selfishness keeps us at war.  And yes, it is selfish to say, “God Bless America,” just as it is also selfish to say, “Allah Bless Iraq.”
          It is more than selfish.
          It is blasphemous.
          For how can someone take this amazing, magical creation and claim, or even worse ask, that one part of Her be blessed while not recognizing the other parts of Her that also must be blessed?
          Without seeing that if the world is not blessed then no way exists for anyone to be blessed, since all are part of the world.
          It is as if some are attempting to only bless the arm of a body.  And the body, if not blessed, will never have the strength to heal the arm.
          I understand that many in the United States and Iraq have found strength and courage to persevere through disaster by expressing solidarity through their simple messages, "God Bless America,” and “Allah Bless Iraq.”
          The phrases have been on the lips and in the hearts of so many; heard sung in churches and mosques, read on signs in front of restaurants and car bumper stickers.
          It is however, a challenge for everyone, to create a new time and place, to spread the blessing to the entire world: 
          Is it possible to remember we share this planet with six billion other people?  Are the thousands of people starving to death at this moment in Somalia any less deserving of a blessing than “Americans,” “Brazilians,” or “Indians?”  Is it not true that if God only Blesses “Americans,” then “Americans” will spend the rest of their lives fighting those people whom God hasn’t blessed?  In the Creator’s infinite wisdom, wouldn’t She bless the whole planet with peace before blessing a small percentage of earth’s inhabitants with victory?  Are the lives of some children less important than the lives of others?  Don’t All deserve to receive a blessing? 
          Unfortunately, for too many, the loss of life isn’t tragic unless they know their names.  It doesn’t matter unless they’re of the same nationality, religion or race.  An ‘Us’ against ‘Them’ mentality is a cause of war, and this mentality is only further perpetuated by the narrowness of one’s blessing.
          Understanding that the 6 billion people in the world have thousands, if not millions of different ways to name and define Allah, asking others to alter their slogans is not in any way meant to ostracize them; rather, it is now, more than ever, that we must each realize God has a myriad of names and faces.  It is now we must compromise and accept that everyone has their own distinctive ways of acting and their own unique methods of prayer.  It is now we must appreciate the intrinsic equality between all religions.
          My fellow beings, the time has come for us to increase our awareness and realize our first commitment must be to the entire world.  Before anywhere else, our commitment must be to life on planet earth.
     
          Hence, I declare I can only be a citizen of the United States if I can also be a citizen of every other nation on this planet.  I am first and foremost a citizen of the world.
    
          Humanity must evolve to a point where people can travel freely between different nations just as today people can travel freely from New Jersey to New York or Georgia to Florida.  We must reach for a time when people can travel freely around the world, just as citizens of the European Union are able to travel without detainment among its member states.  We must progress to a point where the same freedom of travel exists between all countries in Africa, all countries in South America, all countries in Asia.  We must grow to trust each other enough until those in Africa can travel without fail to Europe and those in Asia without difficulty to the Americas. 
           Since we share this world, we should all have equal access to it.
           The world does not revolve around the United States, as many people living in the United States may tend to believe.  And no, it also does not revolve around Africa, Japan or Australia.
           The world revolves because of all of us.
     
                      -written by HawaH
                          excerpted from Escape Extinction, 2003