By Nejoud Al-Yagout

The horrific and tragic and heartbreaking Air India plane crash is another reminder of how fragile our lives are, how in a millisecond we or our loved ones can depart this beautiful planet. And yet, we act invincible. We remain cruel and primitive and barbaric and unforgiving. Wars and ethnic cleansing and femicide and exploitation of minors and minorities rage on. We continue to curse and condemn those who don’t fit into the mold of our flawed vision for society. Global pandemics and plagues and eons of natural disasters haven’t tamed us. We continue to kill for our causes and cheerlead those who carry out our thirst for world domination or revenge or justice.

So, what will it take for us to love one another? When will we surrender our egos and work for the benefit of the collective? When will we stop cowering behind our flimsy labels and attack those who don’t share our lifestyles? When will we realize it is our ideologies that are killing ourselves and others? It is our misguided belief that we are “right” while others are “astray” that has polluted our minds and our seas and the skies. We each flaunt our technological evolution and compete with others instead of finding ways to protect the world together. We forget that true evolution involves the purity of our hearts toward one another. We forget we all belong on this planet.

It isn’t supposed to be this way. We weren’t brought here to fight and hate one another. We weren’t designed for an us vs them paradigm. Nature is filled with diversity that coexists. Our flora and water sources are generous to all of us. And yet we create systems that include or exclude based on financial and social status, ethnicity, gender, orientation, political inclinations and nationality.

We created enemies when we drew up borders and created checkpoints and kept the other out, even while our ancestors were nomadic by nature. As such, we are each responsible for the state of the world. So long as we continue to support ideologies that separate us, that tell us we are superior because of our beliefs, our skin color, or the color of our passport, we are complicit. What will it take for us to turn on the television and see peace and love and unity and harmony and inclusivity? What will it take for us to create a world in which each of us is seen as an asset?

The Air India crash is yet another nudge to remind us to love with all of our hearts. Our fragile world came together in the face of this tragedy, albeit for a few hours. Because instinctively we know that every life matters, every death matters. But then it’s on to another devastating war headline where we exercise our hate and thirst for revenge and we are back to our harmful ways. Just. Like. That. Are we going to heed the call to evolve in love or continue to self-destruct and destroy our Earth? It doesn’t matter who we were yesterday. What matters is who we choose to be from now on. And that’s the beauty. We have a choice. Let’s choose love.