Daring to Compete for a Brighter Future
It seems that all we, humans, are capable of doing right now, is fighting each other. Perhaps, it comes from the fact that we are at least three generations away from the last world war. Though we have had almost constant armed conflicts since then, they have been limited in scope and touched one group after another, making the vast majority of us feel rather comfortable in a quasi-state of peace.
As a child, I remember, that the then two superpowers, the US and the USSR dared each other in two ways, one was with the development of ever more powerful nuclear weapons but the second was with a new adventure: who was going to be first beyond our planet’s limits. That is how in less than two decades after WWII we sent our first space pioneers past the shell of our earth and then, just a few years later, to the moon.
We also dared each other by spreading higher education among our people, as well as the benefits of what fellow humans had learned to those beyond our borders who did not have the means to do it. No matter what we said we did work ‘together’ through our own aid programs as well as international institutions to increase health care, literacy, and create better overall living conditions for other peoples. We also showed care for the future of our planet.
After all, the United Nations Development Program, the UN Environmental Protection Agency and the United Nations Population Fund were started in the first thirty years following World War II. No matter how we competed against each other, the US and the USSR did reach the Salt Agreement, the one limiting the number of nuclear weapons, just slightly over thirty years after seeing the destruction brought by them, one clearly demonstrated with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was obvious when working in the United Nations in the nineteen seventies (1970s).
The progress we made as humans following World War II led to incredible advances. As an example, average life expectancy in India jumped from thirty-five (35) years in 1950 to almost fifty-four (54) years by 1980, that is increasing by nearly two decades in just thirty years. It has now reached seventy years but that is after four more decades. In Nigeria during the same period, it went from thirty (30) in 1950 to close to forty-five (45) in 1980 and up to fifty-five (55) by 2020. In the US life expectancy went from sixty-eight (68) to seventy-three (73) and then to 78 during that same period. In Russia it went from just under 55 in 1950 to some sixty-seven and a half (67.5) in 1980 to only seventy-two and a half in 2020.
You will notice, of course, that the progress in the last two, only one of has remained a superpower, has been far from as great. However, consider not only that they both started from a higher base but that they devoted much energy and efforts to helping others, directly and indirectly, in order to keep their positions in the world. The last little illustration of this kind goes to the People’s Republic of China. Its life expectancy went from just forty-three and a half years (43.5) in 1950 to about sixty-six and a half years (66.5) in 1980 to reach almost seventy- seven (77) in 2020, as it reached superpower status.
Of course, life expectancy is only one factor. One should think about all that goes into it and what it brings. A longer life expectancy implies better nutrition, medical care, comforts, and adaptations to different physical abilities, and so much more. However, one should also consider just a few of the benefits of a longer lifespan including living memory, experience, and planning for the future.
Increased life expectancy has also brought many challenges, as we adjust to having fewer children not only because we do not have to replace ourselves every thirty, forty or fifty years, but because it has led to an incredible growth in the number of people on the planet. That went from two and half (2.5) billion in 1950 to four and half (4.5) billion in 1980, almost doubling in thirty years, to just under eight (8) billion in 2020, pointing to some adjustment in the last forty years. The rate by which we increased went from around two percent (2%) in 1950, down to one point eight percent (1.8%) in 1980 but decreased steadily to be slightly under one percent (1%) by 2020.
What all of this means is that we, humans, can adapt. A growing number of us are just beginning to take steps to protect our little home — this planet — because we are starting to see and feel the effects that we have upon it. After all, we have been around with various civilizations for thousands of years but, partly as a result of our longer individual lifespans which have permitted us to live with substantial changes, have become more aware of our impact since the nineteen sixties (1960s). That does not depend upon subscribing to a role in climate change. Unless those of us who are older live in complete, almost sealed-off, bubbles and hide from anything that is not part of those bubbles, we have witnessed the disappearance of natural spaces and cringed at growing waste on streets, seen more and more plastics in streams and oceans, been astounded at the skyscrapers sprouting in almost every urban center that hide views of blue or gray skies, and flinched at the endless rows of dwellings and stores in what had been open fields.
In fact, it may be exactly that, a refusal by still too many to accept those changes and deal with them, which is exacerbating the number and severity of all types of conflicts in the last couple of years. It is much easier to fight with words or even arms, given our willingness to increase military expenditures, than challenge ourselves and others to compete with us in creating an earth in which our children and grandchildren can enjoy long healthy lives in supportive and diverse environments. Clinging to the idea of our planet as the center of the universe, we hinder our forward looking scientists from nurturing our fundamentally adventurous and pioneering human nature to set our sights beyond our tiny sphere let alone our solar system.
But isn’t it time to throw our fears away? Isn’t it time for us to be brave not by hurting or killing each other, destroying what has taken so long to build, but show courage by competing for a brighter and interesting future. We did it with our ‘enemies’ after World War II. We can do it now.
