Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Buddha
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. - Winston Churchill
The #1206 “fiction” series continues …
In a refugee camp somewhere in Turkey, in the middle of the chaos, the blended cacophony of animal, man and machine, the stench of unwashed bodies, the stink of raw sewage and the smell of cooking food, a small child sat, looking from side to side for comfort and for love ……
…. crying.
…. while evil men and women planned ways to sneak terrorists into Europe amongst the innocent fleeing for their lives ….
…. while powerful people who never liked the European Union saw the tsunami of refugees as the leverage they’ve always sought to disband the union or at least re-establish the borders of their nation as in days of old ….
…. while other powerful people sought to leverage the plight of the desperate to prove that the idea of the European Union was worth saving ….
…. while certain banks and corporations sought ways to improve the bottom line while promoting a message of service to humanity ….
…. while ordinarily good, rational people tore each other apart on social media over whether refugees were safe to accept or not, forgetting that an intelligent, respectful common ground needed to be found quickly between the people who believed that all refugees were terrorists and those who believed that no terrorists could sneak in amongst the displaced, arguing from the comfort of their homes as people died in the wilderness ….
…. while politicians sought to leverage useful material from an affront to humanity, either within their party, within their nation or across the globe ….
…. while charities sought donations to help the ravaged and the homeless, even those charities who had no intention of actually helping them ….
…. while mass media sought the best heart-tugging story to win the ratings war, oblivious to the real human causalities ….
…. while military engines around the world cited the refugee crisis as the justification for a budget request for a new gun, bomb, plane or ship design ….
…. while religions attempted to re-establish why they mattered as they demonstrated their outreach potential or their innocence ….
…. three men in a darkened room observed the holographic images before them.
“This crisis spins forever as does many other that they have piling up”, observed the first man as he stared at the images, “Why do you think this is?”
“Perhaps”, offered the second, “they are so focused on their own intentions that they have lost sight of what they should be doing and the carnage that is ensuing while they pontificate on what is best. Maybe they don’t really care as much as they would have others believe.”
“Or maybe”, said the third quietly, “just maybe, it is possible that too many people benefit from things remaining just the way they are, with the innocent being tossed aside as collateral damage.”
The images before them disappeared until only one was remaining.
As they stared at the image before them, the first man said, “Maybe it is none of these reasons. Maybe there is a simpler but darker reason that you are both overlooking. What if such divisiveness was useful to someone for another reason?”
The second man started to speak but then closed his mouth in silence, reflecting on what he had just heard before returning his gaze to the hologram.
The three men stared in silence at the image of a small child ….
…. crying.
To be continued.
© 2015 – Harry Tucker – All Rights Reserved
Background
Read into this what you will, come to any conclusions you wish to reach, accept any responsibility that you have the courage to accept and blame all the people you want to blame.
While we argue over “stuff”, while people seek to use such events to their advantage, while people argue vehemently, disrespectfully, dishonestly and ruthlessly without facts (relying on emotion or agendas) and while people lack the ability to solve problems intelligently, respectfully, collaboratively and ego-lessly, innocent people are dying, either genuine refugees or people at the hands of terrorists.
We need to recognize the importance of finding solutions to both problems quickly.
And then we need to recognize that we are all either part of the problem ….
…. or part of the solution ….
…. but not both.
Which would you like to be?
Which do you think you are?
How do you know?
Series Origin
This series, a departure from my usual musings, is inspired as a result of conversations with former senior advisors to multiple Presidents of the United States, senior officers in the US Military and other interesting folks as well as my own professional background as a Wall St. / Fortune 25 strategy advisor and large-scale technology architect.
While this musing is just “fiction” (note the quotes) and a departure from my musings on technology, strategy, politics and society, as a strategy guy, I do everything for a reason and with a measurable outcome in mind. :-)
This “fictional” musing is a continuation of the #1206 series noted here.
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