Can the Southeast Asia Earthquake Unite the World?

Readers of my commentaries, which have been graciously published by The Hurricane, know by now that I focus on social and political issues. But now I am about to embark on presenting the most brilliant revelation UM has ever heard. Space aliens; we need an alien invasion. This moment of extreme clarity came to me while I was watching the 1952 movie adaptation of H. G. Wells’s novel, “The War of the Worlds.” Since 9/11, I have been pondering on what it would take to better our world, and at last, this stunning 1950’s visual effects movie has given me the answer.

We need aliens from another plant to infiltrate the earth’s atmosphere and wage a war on what billions of humans call home. How could an alien invasion possibly help the world’s current violent condition, you ask? Like in “The War of the Worlds,” an alien invasion would cause all nations to put aside their cultural, religious, ideological, and political differences in an effort to defeat the enemy aliens. As the aliens begin to wreak havoc, a world coalition of militaries, which would be called the World Military Defense (WMD), would fight off our foes.

An alien invasion could be a solution to many of our planet’s problems. The Iraq War would come to a quick halt as insurgents and coalition fighters now point their weapons to the skies instead of against each other. Osama bin Laden would hide in a cave and make threatening videos against the aliens. Greed and animosity amongst people would gradually cease to exist. All human efforts would be directed towards overcoming the enemy aliens. People will realize that there is no longer a place for the trivialities of human differences.

But, then, reality hit me during the last weekend of 2004 as territories in the Southeast Asian region were ravaged by a tragedy of biblical proportions. A 40-foot tsunami, one of the most devastating natural disasters in world history, not space aliens, is beginning to unite the world, at least temporarily. Over 40 nations and counting are focusing their attention to the heavily damaged countries as they donate millions of dollars and military aid to the relief efforts.

We cannot stop the catastrophic forces of Mother Nature. We can, however, make sure that humankind never allows itself to create a disaster of mass destruction.

We should only be satisfied when all nations and all people unite for making the planet a better place to live. The tsunami was an unfortunate cause for the planet to come together to provide aid, but the war in Iraq and on terror continues to go on. Suffering and death goes on unabated. Bombs continue to explode in Iraq. We can come together for a natural disaster such as this tsunami, but still the rest of the world remains the same. I still believe we will need the aliens.