| We live in a
world that already has enough
nuclear weapons to recreate six
thousand World War II's, and
we're still spending close to a
trillion dollars a year on
armaments. We live in a world
which allows thirteen to eighteen
million of us to starve every
year, thirty-five thousand every
day. We live in a world where our
young people feel there is no
future, no real opportunity to
live a full, productive and
gratifying life. Consequently,
they turn away from their homes
and families and education and
responsibility and move more to
alcohol and drugs and violence
and the mindless crap that fills
most of our television and movie
screens. These are not the
problems. These are the symptoms
of a greater problem. We're more
interested in entertaining
ourselves than in educating
ourselves. We're more interested
in defending ourselves than in
learning about each other. We
live in a country, representing a
free, democratic and capitalistic
system where less than half of
those qualified take time to
vote, where over one-eighth of
our population lives in poverty,
where we are losing over forty
thousand small family businesses
every year, where our government
is incapable of operating without
a deficit and is unable to pay
the interest on the deficit that
now exists, where we cannot
assist a small number of our
farmers through one year of
drought (pray it doesn't last
three or four years...), and
where our highest elected
officials lie to us and condone
illegal activities to effect
their policies.
Does any of this sound at all
like an expression of wholeness?
connectedness? of harmony and
balance? Not to me, it doesn't.
It sounds sick. It sounds like a
cancer that is eating us alive,
that if not caught and turned
around, will inevitably consume
us, not only destroy us but all
of human history in the process.
Our art and technology, our
knowledge and understanding, our
dreams and our visions, our
brilliant success and dismal
failures, our past and our
future.
What can be done? What kind of
preventative measures can be
undertaken to not only heal this
cancer, but begin to draw out the
poison of fear and distrust, of
insecurity and separations which
are at its source?
Here is one idea. Our old and
dear friend and Grandfather,
Buckminster Fuller, talked about
investing in livingry rather than
weaponry. The Presidential
Commission on World and Domestic
Hunger set up by President
Carter, and on which I was
privileged to serve, said in our
financial report that we not only
have the where-with-all to end
hunger on our planet, but that in
doing so, we would accomplish
more in the service of peace and
national security for our
country, than is possible with
all the weapons you can imagine.
This is what I suggest. Let's
take one percent of our defense
budget, which is approximately
three hundred billion dollars a
year, and invest in livingry.
Let's take half of it and invest
it in our own country, helping
the homeless and the hungry,
creating jobs for the poverty
stricken, our Native Americans!
Let's help those farmers all
across our great land and those
small family businesses. Give
them a year's grace from
foreclosure, give them another
chance. Let's create a real
"Hands Across America,"
not just a symbolic gesture but
something of on-going value that
comes out of our on-going
commitment to make a fundamental
difference and achieve real
results, even if it's only
cleaning up litter that lines our
trails, sidewalks and roadways
everywhere. I'm sure there are
millions of good ideas that could
be implemented with a billion and
a half dollars invested here at
home.
Now then, let's take half of
one percent and invest it out in
the world. Let's make some real
headway on getting children
immunized against the six basic
diseases, which still afflict so
many. Let's strengthen some of
the projects already underway in
Africa which are transforming
that continent, making even the
most cynical eye begin to see the
possibility of feeding not only
itself, but all of western
Europe. Let's assist our
neighbors south of the border and
all over the world in creating an
environment where it's more
valuable to invest in their
future by investing their time
and energy in their own country
and not becoming illegal aliens
somewhere else. Again, there must
be millions of good ideas that
reflect living as a world
community (which is what we are)
and which would be furthered by
the judicious investment of a
billion and a half dollars.
Now, this is the kicker. I
believe that if we in the United
States could take that kind of
initiative, demonstrate that kind
of leadership and commitment as
people to see it through, that
the Soviet Union would be willing
to do the same thing. We are no
longer talking about three
billion dollars but six billion.
I am convinced that one year's
investment would bring about such
incredible results, the second
year it would be possible to
delegate two percent of our
defense budget, and then year
after year it would increase to
five and ten percent. In this
way, working together and
achieving real results, the
focus- now directed on the
machinery of war and the
necessity of keeping alive, the
sense of separation, fear and
insecurity in our lives- would
begin to soften. A new bond would
be created, involving all people
and all nations. We CAN end
hunger. We CAN rid the world of
nuclear weapons. We can begin to
live the reality of the family of
humankind on this planet. It's a
possibility!
We must remember that we have
created some extraordinary tools
to work with. Technologies and
systems and artifacts that are
there to serve us, not run our
lives. We must take
responsibility for making them
work for all of us, with a global
consciousness that reflects our
humanity and not our insanity.
It's a possibility!
You and me. It's a
possibility!
One world. It's a possibility!
Peace on Earth. It's a
possibility!
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"It's a
Possibility" words
& music by John Denver
For all of
the times that you've wondered
why
The world
turned out this way
And for all
of the times that you've asked
yourself
About the
games that people play
About the
politics of hunger
And the
politics of need
How the
politics of power seem to be the
politics of greed
For all of
the times that you struggled in
an effort
To work your
way back upstream
And all of
the times you've held on to it
When most of
us have lost the dream
And for all
of the ones who have walked with
you
By your side
or way back home
Maybe much
more than any of us
You know
that no one is really alone
Because the
heart is still a hunter
It's like a
beacon in the night
And though
the heart is just a lover
It's never
afraid to fight
We are
fighting for more than survival
We are
working for more than peace
We are
giving ourselves to each other
Making sure
all injustice will someday cease
You can take
a look around you
And you can
see how far we've come
All the
separate parts
All the
hundred of hearts
That are
beating together as one
It's a
possibility
For many
tomorrows
It's a
possibility
Of a world
to be made for everyone
It's a
possibility
No more
suffering and sorrow
It's a
possibility
It's in
everyone
It's a
possibility
Of many
tomorrows
We're a
possibility
Of a world
truly made for everyone
We're a
possibility
No more
suffering and no more sorrow
It's a
possibility
It's in
everyone.........
copyright
1985 Cherry Mountain Music
Used by
permission.
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