What change are we talking about?
By Deepak M. Rao

We are ashamed to sing our national anthem in front
of a few foreign students. Well, as someone said, the more things change, the more they remain the same…

It's a cliché to say that the world we live in is witnessing a tectonic shift. Youngsters in their teens are founding their own companies, food gains shortage is more a logistics problem than a supply side constraint, there is enough food on the table to feed all mouths, there are enough jobs for all, the middle classes are crowding shopping malls like there's no tomorrow, and so on and so forth. Yet, the fact stares us in the face and it won't go away: that over 40% of the world's citizens are penniless, hungry and jobless.
All the world's powerful men (and women) have not given us the answer to the question: Why is the world's peace marred by wars ever so often? Why is there is so much hatred between nations?

I would like to hazard one guess. That the world is plagued by a disease that breaks the land where the boundaries are drawn by the maps. The boundaries that are supposed to divide the world's geography into easily manageable chunks of land are instead dividing the people into fighting communities. That is the biggest challenge that the world faces today. What would have in a better world served the purpose of offering the shade of protectiveness to its citizens has today become the catalyst that drags peaceful people to war.

There is no ready-made panacea to treat this disease. We need leaders in the real sense of the term, not politicians or dictators, who can guide the world into a state where nationalist sentiments are limited to singing an Anthem or flying a flag. We need human beings, neither machines nor chips, who can handle matters, resolve issues and spread love and cheer. We need global organizations which can offer a platform for every nation of the world to voice its views. These organizations would not be the voice of a few 'developed nations' as is the case in present times. The world is in need of leaders who can rise above petty differences, who can transcend geographical, linguistic, racial and sexual barriers.