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About Paris Giftshop Notes by Jean-Thomas Cullen

11. World Peace, China Syndrome

World Peace. The dreadful news is that the world is in crisis. The back side of that news is that the world is always in crisis, so it's not news. We are in a transitional world, where former Second and Third World powers (as defined by Charles DeGaulle long ago) are asserting themselves economically. I'm all in favor of it, because if it's done right—universal inclusiveness, with universal recognition of human rights—we have a chance at world peace. If the climate doesn't rinse our sink in the meantime. I am a free thinker and a universalist, supporting the ideas of the Enlightenment as they apply to all people. While avoiding a rant, I want to make my viewpoint clear so there is no misunderstanding. Go to Paris with your dreams and joys, but with your eyes open and your wallet firmly closed (until you need it open). That's the bottom line.

Maybe it's because I'm old now. I've lived in several cultures, traveled a lot, speak several languages, have several college degrees including an MS in Business Administration from Boston University (earned in Europe while serving in the U.S. Army), and am the author of more than 40 books (fiction, nonfiction, poetry). I've done a lot of living, traveling, and thinking. During a long and wonderful trip through Europe with my family in 2017, I couldn't help but see things with new eyes despite my earlier experiences. Seeing all those ruined castles and churches in England and on the Continent forcefully drove home to me the senselessness of most human history: the violence, bloodshed, and suffering connected with partisanship, sectarianism, greed of a few, and gullibility of the many.

That's why I welcome the idea of a common humanity across the globe, and I'll write more about that elsewhere. I love the idea of China, India, and other countries including yes Russia enjoying (and the U.S. regaining) a strong middle class and a hope that we can all live in peace together. Consider this: (a) every day in the world, over 40,000 children (again: every 24 hours) die needlessly from preventable causes; which is because (b) as a species, we spend all our resources on killing each other rather than curing cancer or saving a child's life. Whatever fancy ridiculous partisan and sectarian excuses anyone comes up with to justify it, 40,000 children a day is nearly thirty children a minute. That is by any measure a holocaust in the commonly stated sense. The number is a sound UNESCO estimate, and speaks loudly for itself. So much for a brief rant, necessary to frame the next little anecdote. We may well be living in the Chinese Century, and as long as I perceive a growing middle class with what I would think are global human values, I'm all for it.