A One Neighborhood World

We live in a world of geographic, scientific, technologic and economic oneness. We live in one neighborhood and we must learn to live together without segregation of any form (racial, religious, economic, etc.) otherwise we will perish.  No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone.  We must live together and we must be concerned about one another.  We are a global village whether we like it or not.  

Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation (ZTE) is one of China’s leading technology exporters.  The company violated U.S. sanctions on North Korea and Iran.  Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross put “ZTE” out of business by penalizing the company $1.19 billion in fines and by barring U.S. companies from doing business with ZTE.  That action will result in more than 75,000 people losing their jobs in China.  It will also affect the American economy since ZTE purchases 80%  (about $2.34 billion in 2017) of its technology and components from U.S. companies.  On Sunday, Mr. Trump called for the Commerce Department to find “a way to get (ZTE) back into business, fast.”  (This is a simplified summary of a very complex issue).

Last year Consumer Cellular had a special offer on a ZTE Wireless Home Phone Base providing phone service to cordless or corded home phones (using Consumer Cellular service).  I bought the ZTE Phone Base and eliminated my “landline” phone service.  I share this only to illustrate that ZTE is not some remote company in far-off  China, but actually is present right here in my own home. ZTE and China, along with North Korea and Iran, are members of this one neighborhood world in which we live.  It is a reality—and nothing—not isolationism, nationalism, or any form of tribalism is going to change this “matter of fact.”  This is not a “Cain and Abel” world anymore, nor was it ever meant to be.  We are neighbors, dependent on one another.  For our own security and that of our brothers and sisters in the neighborhood we must learn to get along.  National security alone will no longer cut it.  International security is required, making the world safe and secure for every people of every nation.

Yesterday at the opening of the American Embassy in Jerusalem, while many were being injured and killed on the Gaza  Strip, two alleged Christian clergy prayed before an isolated group of all-white and affluent folk. Both of these clergy persons have promoted and encouraged their followers to live in a  “Cain and Abel world.” You can’t build a neighborhood with a self-righteous bigotry that implies that the majority of your neighbors are nothing but evil heretics!

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that murders the prophets and
stones the messengers sent to her!  How often have I longed
 to gather your children, as a hen gathers her brood under
her wings; but you would not let me."