This is such a complicated topic, but, also, not really.

I think we all believe we have a Right to Life – the right to exist as human beings and to try to comprehend the purpose of our lives.

We have survived on this planet by being creative, clever, curious and obstinate. We found food and shelter, we created weapons to help us hunt and, later, to defend us against ourselves.

We have been successful in overcoming the obstacles of this planet, and in that success we have likely created our own undoing. We are overpopulating, we are not utilizing resources sustainably, and our very tribalism that no doubt helped us through many of the most challenging times keeps us from working together as a species to prevent our ultimate demise through planetary destruction.

We are running out of water. We are damaging the very atmosphere that allows us to breathe. We are over consuming fish and meat and yet failing to produce vegetables and grains in ways which solve hunger for all people. We are overpopulating the planet and tipping the balance of nature against us, yet doing almost nothing to attempt to maintain that balance and ensure our long term survival. These are opinions, these are well-established facts.

The very tribalism that brought us safely through the mountains and the forests and the droughts and the wars, through the heavy rains and the winters and the hot deserts, that very tribalism could also kill us off.

We seem unable to move beyond the tribalism, seeing our fellow human beings as others rather than as ourselves. By maintaining this historical perspective we spend our time and energy on defense rather than on community building. We spend disproportionate amount of monies under the banner of “maintaining peace” rather than on seeking harmony.

America and its allies – if we still have them – had a chance to lead the world into a new age of unity and purpose. America had – and likely still has – the opportunity to put down arms and promote global peace with an eye toward humanities long term survival on this planet.

We the People can still become All People, not just Some People. We the People can harness collaboration and understanding as tools for a better tomorrow, a healthier planet, a world without borders, a world at peace. We can start by laying down our arms, for they are certainly the death of our own species even today as I write this. We can change our attitude, we can change our tone, we can embrace one another and we can try together to understand what it will take for us all to survive long term. It’s time for new global tribalism.