EDITOR’S NOTE: TRYING TIMES

The Editor

War in UkraineThe world has had its share of global tragedy in the past two years. First, was the unexpected appearance of COVID-19 which has now killed more than six million people and left many more with chronic health challenges. Despite the incredible job of creating multiple effective vaccines and treatment drugs by the biomedical experts, the virus seems to have gone into a hide and seek mode by mutating into new variants every time we think we have gotten it under control.

Meanwhile regional wars of various kinds have reared their ugly heads, creating massive humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and now Europe. More importantly, a resurgence of the cold war and possible World War III are becoming real possibilities. Unfortunately, how we react to war is like beauty; it is in the eye of the beholder. So, the March Edition is devoted to issues of how specific wars are presented to the world by governments, journalists, and religious believers.

No doubt, the world can be a better place than what it is now given the myriad problems associated with global economic woes, wars, climate change, chronic and periodic health crisis, etc. Therefore, change is necessary. This Edition also has some articles which focus on how to reconstruct the world to make it a better place for everyone. However, the change will not parachute from nowhere. As the song says, the change starts with each one of us wherever we are and in whatever we do. The mindset needs to change from that of “us against them” to one of “we together”. The challenge is on working out the modality of how we can all peacefully share planet earth.