A New World?

If we achieved our goal of world peace and everyone had food, clothing, shelter and health care, if all the animals were protected and loved, if the economy kept growing, if disease was conquered, what would we write about in our blogs and what would the video reports be? Reporters could still write about tornadoes, hurricanes, the weather, crop failure, unethical politicians and executives, but the media would shrink. Who wants to read about James going to the nursing home every day to feed his mother? At least, who wants to read about it more than one second?

If violence was eliminated from the world, what would we talk about? I try to imagine a world like that, and I can’t. The kingdom may be at hand, but I’m not seeing the big picture of it. Lions are still eating lambs, snakes are still biting children, and arms manufacturers are still getting rich.

Imagine this headline: Last slum lord sells apartment house to tenants. Or this: Salvation Army soup kitchen closed, no clients. ER waiting time now 20 minutes. Population growth slows. I’m sure you can write your own headlines and stories. The “what if” hopes and dreams, changing from generation to generation but still concerned with the earth, with people, with creation.

Eliminating the power struggles and the industries that feed them would produce problems also: unemployment, lack of capital, food shortages, and all the concerns that surround the shutting down of the largest industry in the world. So, how would we solve those problems? What system could be used to distribute the wealth of the world to all peoples? How could we change the attitudes of those in power and those with wealth? What about our tax structure?

Each year our legislators build more complicated legal structures and grapple with new situations and things that previously did not exist. Each year our religious leaders confront different variations of relationships and non-relationships. Each generation has increasing amounts of basic knowledge that is expected and varying ways of coping with life. And, we are living longer.

So, with all the complications, the differences, the multiple generations of the world, what would peace and plenty look like? I just can’t imagine it. Can you?