By-and-large it had to take a TSUNAMI to make us reflect that above all our Planet EARTH is no more than a global village, a theory that has been held to be very valid by well-intentioned, international-minded individuals and / or institutions, but to the self-interests of the greater majority of individuals and / or institutions this concept that Planet EARTH is a global village would under no circumstances be hammered home!

So it had to take a TSUNAMI or a number of TSUNAMIS, over one hundred and fifty thousand individuals declared dead, many, many other individuals undeclared but still humanly dead, thirteen countries or regions effected, over five million people displaced, whole infrastructures which took years to build destroyed in a few hours, a catacylstic and apocalyptic disaster of hitherto unimagined proportions to make each and every one of us realize in Man’s most festive Annual Season not only our nothingness in our humanity but our necessary need for each other.

Hence, while one appreciates the large amount of cash that are being collected and the huge quantities of goods that are being donated to the Tsunami stricken areas, particularly Indonesia which lost over one hundred thousand of its citizens, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand, India, Somalia, and other countries and regions, we must not lose count of the fact that in reality all this is part of the common heritage of Man.

It is wrong for instance and with all due respect on the part of each one of us, whoever is any one of us, be it the Secretary of State Colin Powell in the United States or anyone else to declare that these donations show the generosity of so many people towards those afflicted, be they friend or foe, rich or poor, black or white or whatever…because in reality here we are relating to Man’s common heritage.

It is with regret one repeats that it had to be a TSUNAMI of cataclystic and apocalyptical proportions to make us realize this basic fundamental truth about the reality of our existence on a human level of each and everyone of us!

Let us learn from this awesome and terrible occurrence that we all belong as human beings to Planet Earth which in reality is a global village accommodating each and everyone of us, for the welfare of each and everyone of us, in our own supreme interests. It makes no sense to wage wars against one another, to kill, maim, rape and destroy the ‘other side’ because they are Palestinians, because they are some undesired Tribe in the Dafur region of Sudan, because they belong to that Tribe and not to the other Tribe, because they are Republicans and not Democrats or vise-versa, because they are Labourites and not Nationalists or vise-versa, because they are Catholics and not Protestants or vise-versa, because they are Muslims or Hindus or Confuctians or Moonies or Bahaiis or of whatever faiths or religion, or no faith and no religion: the basic truth is that we are all here to see to it that we protect the beauty of our Planet EARTH, to realize that this is all our common heritage and that it is our duty to see to it that from whatever country we come, from whatever region we hale, from whatever hemisphere we belong, from whatever continent we come from we are basically all one: a human race living in a global village called…. Planet EARTH!

Yours Truly:
Emmanuel D. BEZZINA:
AMBASSADOR FOR PEACE:
International and Interreligious Federation for World Peace
& Interreligious and International Peace Council Valletta