Both Oars In All in the Family

Jun 26, 2009

Whether one believes that God created human beings directly from dust or imbued one of His bipedal creations along its developmental path with self-knowledge and a soul, Judeo-Christian theology and science both agree we all came from a common ancestor. It is not different origins but our migration to different climes and later minor developments that have given us our diverse and beautiful phenotypical distinctions.  

According to both the Bible and science, we all have the same original mother. Science may call her Mitochondrial Eve and Genesis, simply Eve.  No matter the name, she is one and the same person.  Therefore, Mr. DePass, whatever you say about the First Lady’s distant relative, you are saying about yours and mine as well. We are all one big family. Any ancestor of hers is indeed one of yours and mine, albeit a distant cousin for all of us.    

This might sound like an intellectualized form of “I’m rubber, you’re glue,” but it is not. It is a worthwhile point for contemplation.  We forget all too often that the human race is literally one family.  Our narrow view of familial relationship allows war to flourish and starvation to continue. Blind to our one family reality, individualism, ethnocentrism and nationalism can make us do and say the craziest things.  What we would never even think of saying or doing to our brother or sister—we, in fact, do say or do to our brother and sister every day. And this is not just from a religious point view—it is what science suggests as well.

From the one family perspective, racism is self-deprecation. Every war is a civil war and all violence is domestic. World hunger is really just feeding one child while letting his brother or sister starve. Lack of access to education, incarceration without rehabilitation, and marginalization are neglect, not mere poverty.  Unemployment is a family matter, not just the concern of the government.

Today, there are seven large scale wars and at least another dozen serious armed conflicts being waged in the family. We are most familiar with those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and the internal wars in Darfur and Somalia.  We are becoming more aware of the Mexican Drug war as it spills over the boarder with the illicit drugs that our citizenry demands.  Suffice it to say, our world family is far from being at peace.  

Today, while our concern for unemployment in our immediate family climbs, unemployment in our world family continues to keep three billion people living on less than two US dollars a day.  Even with our unemployment woes, the US per capita income is one hundred times that of Haiti and more than two hundred times that of Zimbabwe.  We are faring far better than most of our brothers and sisters.

Millions of the children in our world family go to bed hungry.  Every year 15 million of our nieces, nephews, little brothers and sisters die for lack of food.  Here in our own country, twelve percent of our younger family members go to bed hungry.  For less than we spend as a family on ice cream, or perfume or pet food, the food needs of those starving in the world could be met. Maybe we need a family meeting to discuss priorities.

While we live among the most educated of our world family, children in many countries continue to have little or no access to education.  Over 750 million people in the world are illiterate: two thirds of them are women.  Illiteracy contributes to everything from unemployment to infant mortality rates. Its cure is well known and easy to administer.  All indicators suggest that the cost of education is nothing compared to the cost of illiteracy. Maybe it is time for those in the family who can read and write to spend some quality time with the members of the family who cannot.   The world may be a good destination for US teachers who take early retirement.

Even with all the war, poverty, starvation, and neglect, there are still many positive indications that we truly are one big family. The world’s international universities, the World Cup and the Olympics are proof.  So is a joyful marriage between a woman from Boise and a man from Seoul.  The International Space Station and the UN are also proof that we can live and work as a world family. Yet, we still find it difficult to remember that we are all cousins in moments of political trouble and economic stress—when we need to remember it most.