While the world is grappling with the magnitude of the disaster that struck Turkey and Syria, the war in Ukraine is raging on without any sign of abating. Whether cities are being destroyed by shells or by an earthquake, the result is that countless lives are lost or devastated. It seems as though there is no connection between the two disasters, as if nothing ties wars with tremors, but this is not the case. Between all crises, be they earthquakes, wars, famine, or plagues, there is an underlying, hidden nexus that weakens human society and allows for the eruption of all crises.
Humanity is not a collection of separate elements; we all influence one another because we are one entity, one body. Just as a weakness in the body makes it easier for various illnesses and problems to break out, a weakness in human society causes the eruption of crises that affect all of humanity.
When a person’s overall health is poor, it might manifest in a simple cold, in the failure of an organ, such as with diabetes, in cancer, or in the collapse of entire systems in the body. On the surface, we may not see the connection between the different medical crises, but underneath, it is the weakness of the body that allowed for the outbreak of all of them.
The same rule that applies to the body applies to the “body” of humanity. On the surface, crises seem unrelated. But behind all of them lies an inherent weakness in the human body: disintegration among the cells and organs of humanity.
The fact that we do not feel that we are one entity and operate as if we are separate elements that fight against each other, strive to dominate each other, or even to destroy one another, weakens the entire system, which is all of humanity. As a result, “illnesses” are breaking out everywhere.
The only difference between these ostensibly separate crises is that the overall weakness causes different symptoms to show in different places, according to specific conditions in different regions. Nevertheless, the way to prevent all of them is the same. Since their one cause is disintegration of human society, the cure that will heal all of them is reinforcing cohesion and mutual responsibility around the world.
While we must address each crisis separately, and try to restore peace in Ukraine and save what lives we can in Turkey, we must also work on long-term solutions to prevent or alleviate future calamities. To achieve this, we must foster stronger human connections on all levels.
As human connections are unraveling in every aspect of human life—from the family level to the international level—we must educate ourselves about the necessity of positive connections. Positive connections not only make us feel better, safer, and happier on the personal level. They change our entire society and our behavior in it, and consequently change the world.
Good social connections create stable, peaceful societies and peaceful international relations. They prevent exploitation of people and depletion of natural resources. The impact of such improvements affects us on the global level, and not only on the personal one.
If we are to make a lasting benefit from the horrendous pain that disasters such as the war in Ukraine and the earthquake in Turkey have inflicted on humanity, it is that we begin to implement a global plan to deepen our awareness of our interdependence on the quality of our relationships, and that only if we foster positive, supportive relationships, we might be able to avoid or lessen the severity of future crises.
Photo Captions –
Turkey: A man keeps warm by a fire in front of a damaged building in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Nir Elias
Ukraine: Local residents draw water from a well near the building of a theatre destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol Ukraine April 3, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
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