2016 was an intense year. The Wall Street Journal鈥檚 captured the feeling quite well with this headline: 鈥淭he World Order in Flux.鈥� It has felt that way not only in the geopolitical sphere, but also in the ecological sphere and the psychological sphere. It has been a year of wild ups and downs, surprises both good and bad, and looming unknowns. I don鈥檛 really think that this year was an exception, however; rather, I think it is reflective of an accelerating trend. I don鈥檛 expect 2017 to be any less eventful or easier on the soul. Rather, I think this year has 鈥� and next year also will 鈥� require everything we have to steer the world aright. But steer we must! There鈥檚 no letting go of the wheel or the reins!
The year was dominated by election politics, the plight of refugees, the horrors of war and the toll of extremism, increasing intolerance around the world, and accelerating climate change. Quieter but equally important stories were about the suffering of the economically strained as well as the destitute, the worsening crisis of addiction and the medical and mental health struggles behind it, and the erosion of women鈥檚 rights and freedoms in the U.S. and around the world. Quieter still has been the story of the erosion of the boundaries of truth and reality, especially (but not only) in the media, as evidenced by the way the polls let us down and also the fake news explosion, leading up to the selection by the Oxford Dictionary of as the word of the year鈥�
We are in many respects losing touch with the foundations of a world we thought we knew, but apparently did not. My guess is that this process will continue, exposing the illogic of a flawed logic that has governed world affairs for a very long time 鈥� a logic that fails to put gender equality, social justice, and, more plainly, human wellbeing at the center of how we do things. The current scenario will plague us until we recalibrate accordingly.
The other night I was thinking about how many people feel immobilized by impending changes in the U.S. government. I thought to myself, 鈥淚f I was president, what would I do?鈥� Then I realized that that is a question we all need to ask ourselves. And then, rather than following that thought with 鈥淚鈥檓 not president, so those things will never happen,鈥� we should follow it with 鈥淥K, now how can I work for those things anyway, even though I鈥檓 not president?鈥� I was reminded of the civil rights movement, the women鈥檚 liberation movement, the gay liberation movement, and other powerful social movements around the world, like the decolonial and independence movements of formerly colonized countries, the anti-apartheid movement, various labor movements, peace movements, land rights movements, and other human rights movements. These were all movements of people who worked for their agenda anyway, even though they were not president, not heads of state. They were not just partisan political movements, but they were cross-cutting movements by people of conscience for equality, social justice, and human wellbeing.
The bottom line is this: We can never forget that we ARE a super-power in our own right, if we choose to be. So, in 2017, let鈥檚 choose it!
, Ph.D. is the Katherine Stone Kaufmann '67 Executive Director of the 妻友社区 and Professor of Africana Studies at 妻友社区 College.
