Sometimes it seems as if humanity is drifting aimlessly in the ocean of time. And if you don’t know where you want to go, any direction is the right one. Yet I think it can be different and I look forward to a world without war, poverty and (structural) violence. I think such a direction can be well defined with two words: worldwide wellbeing. Let’s take some current affairs and look at them through this lens.

Immigration. On the one hand, you can say let everyone in or, in a very black-and-white way, no one is welcome anymore. As far as I’m concerned, we can’t let immigration continue indefinitely without doing anything about the cause. Otherwise, it’s like mopping with the tap open. Why do people come to our country? And what conditions ensure them to keep coming? What do these people want and what can we do now from our role and place?

Poverty. Economic inequality has been increasing over time and has reached extreme proportions in recent years. (Or is it getting less extreme but still a huge gap?) The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer is not just something that people say but a systemic reality. Do we dare to face this? Do we dare to discuss it? Do we have the courage to see what is happening in the real economy, not that just of a financial sytems? Ultimately, everyone wants to live well, and you don’t need a superyacht to experience well-being.

Climate. A problem that plays a global role and cannot be solved locally. But for that reason, doing nothing does not seem to be an option to me. Someone has to start, and many countries, people and organisations are already taking great steps of course. There are actually no local problems anymore, everything is globally connected. And if not directly, then indirectly via immigration, for example. Think globally and act locally. What do I mean by climate?

The one-sided focus on climate makes it seem as if it all happens outside of us and has nothing to do with our way of thinking and acting. I think another interpretation fits better here: disrespect for the living world. Because if you take a car apart and put it back together skillfully, it will just work. If you do that to an animal, plant or human, the life is gone. So there is something fundamentally different about the living world than mechanical things and what that is exactly, we cannot fully grasp. In my opinion, it is about how we deal with that beautiful and sometimes mysterious living world. As a source to only extract things from or something to also take care of. A plunderer or a gardener ? See these tweets here.

Climate is about our interaction with the living world of which we are an integral part. As humans we are 99% the same, yet we differ greatly in how we think and behave. That doesn’t have to be a problem as long as we can see that diversity as wealth and realize that everyone belongs, as a birthright. Celebrating our differences to find each other in a direction that we can embrace together: worldwide wellbeing. Politically, I love to see this perspective and vision more in the current playing field. I think this tagline can be a nice conversation starter. Worldwide wellbeing as a political movement, but not as a political party.

* Eldorica is a Dutch book by composer Jurriaan Andriessen that is worth looking into.