On June 2, 1987 Ronald Regan made a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin at at time when the city was divided into East Berlin and West Berlin by the Berlin Wall. Though his intentions were largely political, and based on spreading the philosophical notion of democracy into the communist controlled area, the effect that it had on the denizens of the entire community around Berlin was that they realized that absurdity of the wall itself. Within 3 years the idea spread throughout the area, and people began flooding past the border at it's weakest points, until finally the political powers realized that people no longer wanted the wall to be there. People no longer believed in the wall.
Do you believe in borders between nations as they exist today?
Fundamentally do you believe that there are irreconcilable differences between people around the world that require us to put up walls and barriers to keep us separated?
What we saw later in the breakup of Yugoslavia and now in Civil Wars that rage on in countries like East Timor, Sudan, Congo, Iraq, etc.. that the ultimate consequence of strong nationalistic passion whereby various "nations" compete for global resources is violent confrontation. Europe learned after WWII that intense emotional feelings directed against "foreigners" has devastating consequences. Homes and businesses were destroyed and countless lives were lost, and when it was over and they began picking up the pieces of their broken dreams they realized that the frailty of humanity is shared among us all. Events like WWII and the fall of the Berlin wall led to the unification of Europe that propelled it to become one of the most successful economic stories of the late 20th century. The power that lies in the common European identity and prosperity that it gives to it's members is something we all should look to as an example of how our entire global community should feel.
Do you really believe that you are Japanese, or Chinese, Singaporean or Korean and that as a result of that fact, you are entitled to certain privileges that others cannot have access to?
Poor neighboring countries like Mongolia or Indonesia have individuals that are facing the same human struggle that you face, but because you are born on the correct side of the wall, you suddenly are entitled to more privileged opportunity than them?
Most countries believe that "locals" or "citizens" are entitled to the opportunity to use the resources of that particular country freely as well as reside in the area bound by that country as long as they like. These countries emphasize that "locals" belong inside the borders of their respective country, and "foreigners" 外国人 belong outside. These countries put strict limitations on those that are perceived as "foreigners" and in many cases one may be born inside the borders of that country and still be considered "foreigner" and not have equal rights as a "local".
The truth is that all of these lines that divide nations are completely arbitrary in the modern global community. We all come from a common origin and all subject to the same human experience and all live on planet earth, yet we still insist on using the term "foreign" 外 when we refer to our own brethren?
In a famous court case called "Brown vs Board of Education", the US Supreme court ruled that it is logically impossible to maintain "separate but equal" facilities. This "separate but equal" concept was at the time a very popular excuse that was used to justify segregation of the school system as a way to preserve the elite racial "white" class from being polluted by the less privileged "black" class. As it turned out, the facilities were not equal, and this fundamental court case ruling concluded that in no way is it possible to maintain separate segregated facilities and assume that they will be equal. Segregating our society into it's various "nations" and assuming that everyone will have equal opportunity to global resources is a no less ridiculous assertion.
Why is it that we feel that others within our national group "deserve" our tax money spent on them, and others do not "deserve" the money to be spent on them?
Do children suffering from malnutrition in Africa in some way "deserve" your hard earned money any less than well fed children across the street from you?
Asians, I talk to you because I believe we can make a difference in the world. We are the world! 60% of the world's residents live in the continent of Asia. Not only that, but economically we are expected to become the dominant global force in the next generations.
What will we do with this prosperity?
Will we keep it for ourselves, and our children, and whoever decides to live permanently within our borders . . .
Or will we realize that the world needs our help, and share the prosperity so that everyone of our fellow global citizens can have the same economic opportunity in the future generations?
Why do we put up barriers?
What are we trying to accomplish?
Is it that we fear?
Do we fear that our way of life will in some way be lost if we let others into our corner of our global community?
I encourage you to ask a German, ask a Spaniard, or ask the Irish if they feel that their way of life was in some horrible way lost after they broke down the barriers they had between neighboring countries. If we are so proud of our way of life, then we must share it with the rest of the world, and not horde it to ourselves only for only our benefit. We should invite people to come and learn, and not push them away out of ignorance. Division and isolation are motivated by fear, whereas assimilation and congregation are motivated by love.
Will we be a fearful Asia, or a loving Asia?
A final thought to ponder. . .
In 1990 the spacecraft Voyager I, at a distance of more than 6 billion km, turned around and took a photo of the earth. The late Carl Sagan commented on this photo's deeper meaning in a 1996 commencement address
(full text here --> http://obs.nineplanets.org
In the address, he reflects on the common human experience we have on this earth, and how precious it is to our common global way of life. "That's here. That's home." With the military technology available to us today, we posses the power to destroy ourselves. Not only do we poses the power to destroy ourselves through nuclear holocaust or human induced global climate change, but our very existence is vulnerable to complete annihilation by outside factors such as non human induced global climate change or asteroid impact. For those that don't know, your risk of dying from a catastrophic asteriod impact is as high as 1 in 20,000. That's about the same odds as dying in a plane crash, and much much higher risk than dying from a shark bite or terrorist attack (less than 1 in 100,000). The scary thing is that as we see from this photograph, and as Carl Sagan notes "there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us." This image of the pale blue dot "underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
If some billion years from now another civilization in their exploration of the galaxies comes across the ruined remains of our pale blue dot, what will they see?
What story will we leave behind for them?
Will they see a community that bound together under a common identity to fight to preserve their survival, up until the very end . . .
Or will they see a world that failed to respond to the threat to their existence because their guns were pointed in the wrong direction . .
at each other.
