World Health Day April 7th

World Health Day, April 7^th is an annual day for global health awareness. Originally to honor the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO).  But, the global Covid19 crisis humanity is now experiencing clearly demonstrates the important of health in every aspect of our lives (mind, body, spirit, community, environment, economy, democracy, global population…).  And now we all see each day that every human as a vital role to play in keeping each other healthy, free and prosperous.

Those who study pandemics joke that there’s always two phases of every pandemics.  First phase “We don’t believe you”.  Second. “Why didn’t you warn us?”  Serious questions exist. Here’s quick answers to some.

Where did it come from?  Where did it come from?  China. Likely from a ‘wet market’ where exotic animals and unsanitary conditions are common. However, it is important to remember that MERS and H1N1, other recent coronaviruses that wreaked havoc, came from Africa and Mexico respectively.

Why now?  It was overdue. Since 1980 multiple uncontested commissions, studies, reports, and credible experts have repeatedly and consistently warned policy makers (and every President) that another pandemic was inevitable – as a result of 8 interdependent basic factors.  Travel, poverty, mutations, environmental factors, intrusive medical procedures, mass production flaws, dysfunctional governments, wars.

How will it end? Worse than it had to – with catastrophic losses in lives and dollars…because of ignored warnings, poor preparation and flawed personal and government reactions.

What’s next?  More pandemics.  Including new and re-emerging infectious disease if we continue to undervalue prevention and evidence instead of opinions and emotions.

Can we prevent and better prepare for them?  Yes. By advocating effectively for funding and achieving the SDGs.

MAHB’s promotion of activism has never been more important.  The question is ‘advocate for what?”   And how?   The briefest answer:  Advocate for our elected officials to codify into all human laws “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” — for the purpose of sustainably maximizing humanities freedoms and security.  How?  By sparking the mother of all movements:  A Movement of three movements (peace, environment, social/economic justice) to tap the $32 trillion stashed in offshore accounts.

Others will urge for reducing population, stopping economic growth, ‘world peace’ through disarmament, or elimination of fossil fuels.  And, other intelligent people will demand winning elections, campaign finance reform, reducing WMD proliferation, ending genocide, women’s rights, or preventing future pandemics.  But none of these will be accomplished without understanding the need for a comprehensive holistic approach to addressing each of these factors (and others not mentioned) together. Siloed solutions don’t work.  If they have before, like the global eradication of Smallpox, by now it’s clear that they were ultimately unsustainable.

Now, progress on any issue inevitably hurts progress on others.  This is due to the zero-sum game each movement (and all the organizations within it) plays for a limited amount of funding, media attention, memberships, and congressional attention.  Worse yet, some issues like ‘peace through disarmament’, reducing WMD proliferation, or reforming campaign finance laws, are either impossible or unworthy of resources devoted to them do to the very nature of multi-use technologies.

The first problem. The political systems we humans have thus far engineered are fundamentally incompatible with the supreme law of nature.  Our current national and global governance systems are based on the illusionary principle of independence (a human concept existing nowhere in the known universe).  This mental concept leads powerful individuals, corporations, or governments to use their freedom to take irresponsible actions.  Actions that often hurt someone, some nation, or some aspect of the environment – anywhere in the world. Humans like most animals do not take kindly to being mistreated.  And the environment always gets the last vote.  When human governance systems violate the fundamental principle of every major religion, the golden rule, things will never end well.  And in most human legal systems, an individual is better off being wealthy or well connected to power – and guilty – than being poor or discriminated against by those in power – and innocent.

It’s not state or national sovereignty that protects human freedom and security.  But laws that are just, protect inalienable human rights, and the environment.  When democracies or dictatorships fail to enforce such laws or hold those responsible who abuse their freedom of action, then those governance systems lose their primal legitimacy of protecting every individual’s sovereignty.  Only flawed governments reject the heavenly concept of individual sovereignty – the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Elections rarely achieve this ideal for one of two reasons.  The majority gets their way and ignores the minorities.  Or, the majority gets comfortable and complacent and neglects their responsibility to codify the global golden rule.

On World Health Day (and every day!) ‘we the people’ must keep the pledge we’ve given hundreds of times before our flag, of “Liberty and justice for all”.   Every day between elections we can use our fundamental right to petition our government and insist that our elected officials codify our city, state and national laws to enforce the laws of nature and nature’s God – in the context of our pledge.

We are now in a war against the most lethal enemy our species has ever had.  Some pundits and policy makers are finally calling for a ‘Marshall Plan” to help prevent future pandemics and empower the world to respond faster and more effectively to those we cannot prevent.  Fine. But, warring between nations, religions, economic systems, political or economic beliefs are not inevitable.  Pathogens are.  But we must understand the real, persistent, and inevitable enemy we really face.  Well over 99.9% of bacteria and viruses are either beneficial or harmless to our freedom, security and prosperity.

Our real enemy is our own ignorance, apathy and indifference to the conditions of others globally who share this miracle planet with us.  And these flaws, empower the .01 % of the killer pathogens that thrive on our ignorance, apathy and indifference to each other, and our life supporting environment that we have been gifted by the laws of nature and nature’s God.

Connect the dots.  See the web of life. Advocate for Justice.  Or prepare for the catastrophic consequences.

Chuck Woolery, Former Chair
United Nations Association, Council of Organizations
chuck@igc.org

Blogs:

435 Campaign:  www.435globaljustice.blogspot.com  (May 2017  through today)

Dothefreakinmath http://dothefreakinmath.blogspot.com  (June 2006 to Nov 2016)

The Trilemma  http://trilemma.blogspot.com/  (Oct 2011 to Nov 2013)