When I was still a little girl I enjoyed hearing exotic stories from one of my cousins who was old enough to be my father. He was a geologist who often spent months working in northern Africa, particularly in Libya. He would speak of the unique beauty of the country and its people. One time while working in a desert area he became disoriented and lost his way. If not for the kindness of strangers who found him and guided him back to civilization, he might have died. As a child I was in awe of his adventures and often wondered about the remarkable country that he so excitedly described.
It would be much later that I would find myself reading about far different images of Libya than the ones recounted by my cousin. After years of political upheaval the political situation there had changed dramatically by 2011 leading first to protests and then years of civil war between multiple factions. A tenuous peace was finally procured in 2020, but there are still isolated terrorist attacks and protests that have made the country unsafe, poor and badly run. Infrastructures have been weakened after years of neglect and tensions have continued to fester under the tensions of daily living.
On September 12, a storm in Mediterranean brought torrential rains to northern Africa and Libya in particular. After years of neglect two damns riddled with cracks and crumbling walls broke as water from the storm pushed against first one and then the other. The result was an epic human disaster when the waters rushed without warning into the city of Derna in eastern Libya. Tens of thousands died including whole families whose homes were washed away. Rescue efforts required cooperation among rival factions and countries. For the first time in decades it seemed more important to Libyan citizens to suspend enmity in the hopes of saving lives.
I listened to a distraught resident of Libya describing the scene while fighting back tears. His emotion was palatable as he spoke of the realization among the people of Libya that climate change had wrought this epic tragedy, but ultimately so had all of the fighting among rivals. He urged his fellow citizens to suspend their divisions and finally come together in peace and unity for a common cause that affects them all.
As I listened to this man I could not help thinking about the past few years during which America has been torn into warring camps that have led us to a very dangerous moment in our own history. Instead of working to solve our common problems and to keep our nation in good working order our national, state and local governments are beset by bickering and retribution, wars over our differing cultural beliefs . We may not have political problems that are as severe as those in Libya, but we have not been been living in harmony with each other for quite some time now. All of us should be concerned by this and by political candidates who stoke the fires of fear that create fissures in our political system.
Libya’s story shows us that things will only get worse if we continue down this road. Some of the most honorable men and women in our government are being pushed out of office and telling us that the situation is far worse than we might even have imagined. We look at the functioning of our institutions and surely must see that they are broken, but instead of making repairs, mending fences, we seem to only be quibbling with one another. We may not realize it but we are presently engaged in an unofficial war that will most certainly continue to escalate unless and until we broker a truce that brings nonpartisan ideas to the table.
We all know what we should be doing, but we continue in a circular motion that ignores truth and common sense. Tribalism and nationalism has never worked. It’s based on the idea of pitting one group against another. It forces individuals to join groups. I focuses on meaningless problems rather than what is really needed by the society. It breeds extremism that leads to seemingly good people becoming focused more on prohibiting and banning than providing solutions and freedoms.
We would do well to see Libya as a proverbial example of what might happen here if we do not quell the fires of disagreement that are being fanned by people who have found a way to assert their own power. Dictators do not actually care about the people. They pretend that they do, but essentially all that they have in mind is feathering their own nests. They have to use force to keep people in line and to protect themselves. It has happened before even in seemingly civilized societies. It most certainly could happen here. It’s up to each of us to be certain that we do not encourage people who openly taunt us to hate each other. Democracy dies in such dark places. We have to use our votes wisely while they still count.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 