OF WALLS AND CAGES
Hubris does not only do violence to the man who harbours it but also to his fellow beings who bear the brunt of it
HUBRIS is very human, and is found in abundance on Earth. Only the very pure of heart escape this compassion butchering and love-laming excessive pride.
Picture this boast issuing out of the White House (which the Iranians tauntingly call House of Satan): “America will always be the first in space. We don’t want China and Russia and other countries leading us. We have always led.”
We understand the American president’s aspiration to make America great again. Any head of state would want to do that. Even our 330,000km2 wide Malaysia wanted to be great again until recently. But to be great on Earth, the Moon, Mars and everything in between is, frankly, an empty ambition. The space-time challenge is humongous.
The American president thinks a deep wallet and enterprising spirit are all you need to plant the American flag here, there and in between. But more than dollar and daring are going to stand in the way of this megalomaniacal dream. Not to mention clock and calendar.
Some people really need a history lesson.
We need be no Sir Arnold Toynbee to know that the discovery of America was more mundane than deep wallet and enterprising spirit suggest. The pilgrim fathers fled Europe, well, fled for their lives not because they were driven by the enterprising spirit but by persecution. And harsh economic realities of the age. Deep wallet was the last thing they had in mind. Deep scars were closer to the truth. One of the side effects of people who suffer from hubris is a habit of mind that fudges facts in the service of fiction. Daring and dollars don't win any wars, let alone space wars.
For starters, China and Russia stand ready, able and willing to give America a run for the money. There is no sane reason for the Chinese dragon and Russian bear to be bested by the American bald eagle. If anybody is in need of space it is China. With 1,415,045,928 people, it is more than willing to blast these fellas to far-away planets. And the Chinese are only too willing to be blasted away into space given the carbon emitter China is. According to one study, pollution kills 1.6 million people in China every year. The Chinese, it seems, want breathing space.
America may have been the first nation to put a man on the moon, but Russia was a space player long before that. It was Yuri Gagarin the Russian who orbited the Earth first. Not an American. Those who are old enough will remember America was first in announcing its intention to launch a satellite on July 31, 1956 but it was the Russian Sputnik that beat the Americans to it.
China is already contemplating a One Belt, One Road programme connecting Mars and Moon. Their experience on earth would come in handy, they figure. The Chinese are quickly giving Mandarin names to the planets. Word is going around that the Chinese have published planetary maps naming the planets Mahs and Mun. The Chinese quite cleverly argue that if they have Chinese names they must be Chinese planets. Like they argue the South China Sea is Chinese.
Trump’s narcisissism begets narcissism, with Chinese and Russian characteristics, it must be added. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will say the US has initiated a space war, and this does not only affect China and Russia but also the rest of the universe.
Universe? We are no longer mere earthlings, remember? We are now, by extension, Martians, Moonies and Mercurians, if the Americans have their way, that is.
Expect Trump to build walls on Mars and Moon to keep the Chinese and Russians out. Expect him to keep the Chinese and Russian children in cages. There they can wail for their Papas and Mamas till they grow up to be Papas and Mamas themselves. And their Papas and Mamas will become Grandpas and Grandmas, but they will still be separated by separation.
Immigrants are not welcomed, especially in America. They infest the nation, some Americans claim. But isn’t America a nation of immigrants? There were no walls to keep the Quakers away from the shores of America in the 17th century. Neither the Native Indians nor Indians of any other hue put the Quakers in cages. The American natives didn’t snatch the children from their Papas and Mamas because they knew it to be cruel to do so.
Instead, the Indians allowed them to build settlements in Salem and elsewhere. The American immigrants came, the American immigrants saw and the American immigrants multiplied. There was multiplication for the American immigrants but mutilation for the Indians. What happened to the principle of “All Men Are Created Equal?” If everyone was born with the same inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, why are there classes of people now? Why do some have rights, others none? Why deny pursuit of happiness to some?
Besides, immigrants have kept the American economy going. They build towers, including the Trump Tower. They build bridges across rivers, and most importantly, across hearts. The heartland is not terrestrial, but a spiritual real estate.
There is a rise and rise of people around the world who “other” others. They build walls to keep “them” away from “us”. We must not succumb to such nationalism. We are mankind at work, slowly building a humane race. Some call this work in progress.
Going to Mars, the Moon, Mercury or anywhere else in the Universe isn’t going to help the human race. The Earth is our planet to test our moral muscle. If we do not do too well here there is little assurance that we will do well anywhere else. Because our bad habits will follow us. And so will our walls and cages.
The Earth is our planet to test our moral muscle. If we do not do too well here there is little assurance that we will do well anywhere else. Because our bad habits will follow us everywhere.
And so will our walls and cages.