You Have Sown the Seeds: Now is the Time to Prepare for a Rich Harvest
Dear Mr. Obama,
Congratulations on your election as the next president of the United Sates of America. Millions of Americans and indeed many more millions around the world are eagerly looking to you and your administration to address many pressing crises facing your country and the world over. These include climate change and ecology, banking, credit and subprime mortgage lending, soaring cost of energy and food, hunger and infectious disease, international relations and cooperation, peace and justice, terrorism and war, armaments and unprecedented violence, crime and insecurity. Other major problems include the fear of getting sick, old, homeless and jobless.
It is precisely in times like these – unstable and confusing though they may be – that people everywhere need to keep their eyes on the better side of human nature, the side of love and compassion, rather than hatred and injustice; the side of the common good, rather than selfishness, individualism and greed.
With your election a seed of hope has been sown. Now it’s the time to ensure this seed will grow into a most wonderful and rich harvest by insisting that the abundance that comes from God and earth and human effort must be shared, lest its concentration in the hands of the few become a blood-clot endangering our lives- as indeed has happened.
To do this, your government needs- as I am sure, it will- to adopt a new strategy of generosity toward all the people of America, as well as to all other people and nations around the world, by replacing the strategy of domination that has so long been the policy paradigm. Your administration needs to transform all institutions including the U.S. government to act not merely for economic benefits and the highest return to the shareholders, but also to encourage people’s natural inclination toward love, generosity, compassion, imagination, and wonder at the beauty of the planet Earth and the universe in which we live, by encouraging us all to know and serve the common good.
Those who may not have your best interest at heart may say this is too idealistic. But today, idealism is the new realism. So-called realism, through the strategy of domination, has only led to endless wars, needless suffering, and exploitation, seriously compromising the moral and spiritual standing of the U.S., both at home and abroad.
These multi-disciplinary conferences have been lively and productive affairs, in which scholars, politicians, businessmen and women, NGO leaders, theologians, journalists, peace activists, and students from many diverse faiths and cultural backgrounds have come together from around the world for intense discussions on a spiritual and value-centred vision of globalisation and the common good. Indeed, we have now moved from research and discussion to articulate position papers and an active agenda for change in the international community and its economic and development policies.
Our work over the past few years has given rise to numerous collaborations, several book publications, and academic papers, as well as the establishment of the rapidly developing online Journal of Globalisation for the Common Good, hosted by Purdue University- Calumet, USA. There are also modules on Globalisation for the Common Good offered at different unversities around the world, including Fatih University in Istanbul, Trinity College, University of Melbourne and soon at Loyola University in Chicago.
We at the Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative believe that the current developments in promoting inter-faith relations are a vital step in adapting humanity to the age of globalisation. We look forward to being able to play a part in what we hope is a fruitful period of inter-religious dialogue which can see peace, justice, and human well-being furthered across the globe. In short, it seems that the moral crises of global economic and political injustice today are integrally spiritual: they signal something terribly amiss in the relationship between creator and the creation.
While economics and politics are based on a partial or wrong image of humanity and human reality, they will not produce the results we need. Globalisation for the Common Good, by addressing the crises that face us all, empowers us with humanity, spirituality and love. It engages people of different religions, races, cultures and languages, from a wide variety of backgrounds, all of them committed to bringing about a world in which there is more solidarity and greater harmony.
People need to see that there are serious alternatives to the world’s present failing policies, rules and institutions, and that there are likeminded global citizens who share a vision of hope and common values that can lift them out of the deep sense of powerlessness and despair that is now affecting so many parts of the world. GCG is a path of hope and action for change, a change that we can all believe in.
In conclusion, as was noted, our 2009 conference will take place at Loyola University, Chicago- your great Home State. It goes without saying that, all of us associated with this international gathering will be extremely honoured and delighted to receive your personal support, endorsement and involvement.
Yours Sincerely,
Kamran Mofid PhD (ECON)Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiativewww.globalisationforthecommongood.infoCo-editor, Journal of Globalisation for the Common Goodwww.commongoodjournal.comGlobalisation for the Common Good, Chicago 2009http://www.gcgchicago2009.info/
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