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One Global Family

A dream.

A concept.

A connector.

Lived and potential actuality.

That's One Global Family.

 

I have a dream. It's that we all realize, remember, and respond from the conviction that we are all members of the one global family. If we did, it would change the world.

It's true – all people are human, unique in our individuality, united in our shared humanity, equal in our rights. We are one global family.

Creationists believe it, for God created humans, and from them, every member of our beautiful, diverse global family was born.

Humanists believe it, for we are all members of the human race.

Scientists believe it, and what's more, have learned how incredibly alike we are at the cellular level. People share 99% of our genes in common.

If we lived in this reality, it would change everything. The One Global Family project reminds us to do just that.

At its essence, One Global Family is a concept that can be adapted to diverse needs and contexts, to encourage peace and community in all its myriad forms. Are there divisions in your community? One Global Family reminds people that our fundamental human unity far exceeds the minor differences of our beautiful human diversity. Are you concerned that some are exploiting the environment to the detriment of others? One Global Family calls people to live from the values of equality and sustainability to the benefit of all. Whatever the local needs and context are, One Global Family is a concept imbued with the freedom and principles to make a positive difference.

It's also a hashtag. By sharing "family photos" and One Global Family activities with the hashtag #oneglobalfamily, we can encourage each other and challenge each other to greater unity.

One Global Family is whatever you dream it can be.

 

The difference One Global Family makes 

This is a game-changer. If we're all members of one global family, are the differences we promote now, or are even willing to die for, meaningful? Can we pretend anymore that there's an inherent, inalienable difference between "us" and "them?" No. Being one global family means we are the "us;" there is no "them."

 

We are the "us." There is no "them."

 

If you're my sister, can I let my profit or convenience cause you pain? No. Since we are related, your pain hurts me.

If you're my brother, can I profit from armaments that you must raise against your brothers, or see fall on your children? Of course not. Our well-being is interlinked, and my profit cannot cause you pain. If my principles demand that a state intervene in the name of justice, it must be justice for all members of the one global family, and through a just means. To kill countervenes the basic human principle of the right to life, and creates many more problems than it solves. We have to defend justice justly. 

 

A family stands with each other, not against each other. 

 

We also have to examine what we're fighting for. When we align with national interests, we set sections of the family against each other. Let's zoom out the lens and work for the good of the whole global family. A family will always have disagreements, but a healthy family learns how to resolve them peaceably. It embraces diversity, balances freedom with solidarity, and sticks together when it counts. It stands with each other, not against each other. It solves differences with words, not fists or bullets. Its primary law is love.

 

A family's primary law is love. 

 

Living out the reality that we're members of one global family will change the decisions we make – as individuals, as nuclear families, as communities, countries, and regions. It will call into question the definitions and roles of countries, and lead us towards cooperation instead of competition.

 

In the one global family, by definition, countries must lead us towards cooperation instead of competition. 

 

Recognising our unity as one global family will change our view of the world, and our desires for its well-being. It will make peace on earth not only possible, but the only outcome with integrity. It will remind us of our equal rights and responsibilities, and adjust our worldview that groups (be they religious, geographical, racial or political) are just organisational tools to help us take care of our nearest neighbours cooperatively, to the benefit of us all. Embodying the reality that we are one global family will deploy our riches to ensure everyone has enough, instead of profiteering at the expense of others. For then we will recognize what true riches are - having healthy food to eat, clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, sleeping in safety without fear. True wealth is having enough to live well, but not so much you have to defend it. It's open walls and wallets, but because of generosity, not need, for everyone will have enough. It means investing our technology, young men and women's lives, and a third of our national budgets on peace instead of war, on green energy instead of fossil fuels, on protecting instead of exploiting our shared earth. In other words, it is improving the lives of everyone, rather than accruing unfair riches for the few.

 

Being one global family makes peace on earth not only possible, but the only outcome with integrity.

 

Individually, knowing that someone has my back if I should ever fall behind means I can be generous to those in need today. Nationally, it means welcoming others instead of building walls. Internationally, it means meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Don't you want to live in this world? I do, so much that I will devote my life to doing so. 

 

Celebrate our unity as #oneglobalfamily

Thank God, we already live this reality, to a significant extent. Let's celebrate that! Let's share our family photos and stories, and meet and celebrate each other, by posting pictures, selfies, and stories of people living out the ideals of being one global family, in any medium, on any platform. To help us find each other, let's use the hashtag, #oneglobalfamily. Please add one for your #country and tag @crypeace2 also.
 
 

Post to the one global family photo album! Tag your post with #oneglobalcountry #yourcountry @crypeace2 

 

 

One Global Family Actions

Realising that we are one global family is foundational. Sharing how we are already living it out is inspirational. But aligning our global politics, economics, and environmentalism to it will be transformational. That's what I truly aspire to. 

Individual acts of family affection come from our daily choices – being respectful and kind to everyone, paying fair prices and wages, reducing waste, sharing with those less fortunate than us. They are simple but powerful.

Communal actions will take more research, such as finding worthy social enterprises for investment, exploitative companies for divestment, or introducing new practices to our schools, workplaces or places of worship. Let's share our questions, examples, and discoveries with each other so we can progress more rapidly.

International acts will be the hardest, but have the biggest impact. After living in the Congo last year, a large action close to my heart is ensuring that the coltan we use in our electronic devices is ethically sourced.

 

Make it your own

The beauty of our one global family is that we live all over the world, speak every language, know diverse things, and have unique ideas. Please use the one global family framework to challenge your own community to reflect on its divisions and solidary, challenges and opportunities, and ways to come closer together as a family. Get ideas on our actions page:

 

Share Your Ideas

Let's dream and talk out loud about living as one global family. How are you living it out? What ideas can you share? What questions do you have? Let's talk.

 

A path to world peace

Can I confide in you? My crazy, ambitious dream for the one global family is to achieve world peace. 

There are two ways one global family supports peace. First, it's the only position that holds integrity if we truly believe we are one global family. For how can we wage war against our siblings? We have a lot of work to do to help people realize that deaths in conflict aren't "collateral damage," but our brothers and sisters. Yes, the global family should defend human rights, but by adhering to them, not breaking them (especially the right to life). In establishing justice, dialogue and diplomacy have proven much more effective than cycles of retributive wars, and upholds one global family values.

Secondly, once we deeply believe that we're one global family, we will stop exploiting each other, precluding the need for war. If we share resources equitably, there will be nothing to fight over. If we protect the environment because its degradation hurts people, especially in developing nations, we will prevent food, land and water shortages.

This is a utopian dream today, but I want to live in utopia. I cannot stop believing it is right, so I cannot stop working towards its realisation. Whether or not it is ever achieved, it is my responsibility to work towards it, and to stop knowingly participating in systemic oppression and war.

Friends, while I have enjoyed the blessings of living in a prosperous, peaceful nation, I am not naïve. I worked in the war-torn Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo for 6 months. I lived in a mudhut without running water in Nigeria for 3 months (albeit with a drain and toilet to pour fetched water down). I've been metres from hours of tear gas explosions in the West Bank, slept under the stars at a refugee camp, and befriended and supported young men living in an orphanage in Uganda. I met an abducted child soldier who was forced to kill or be killed. I'm not unaware of the world's problems; I've spent years working for organisations that try to address them. Rather, I am moved to action by the life-and-dealth difficulties our family members are suffering in many parts of the world.

It is an accident of birth that I was born in Canada and enjoy clean water, good and free education, and economic opportunities. These are not rights, they are privileges, which come with the responsibility to help my sisters and brothers enjoy the same blessings I do.

It is an accident of birth that Enoch, the young boy I met in Eastern Congo, doesn't have a home to call his own, and is frequently scared by gunshots and violent deaths in his community. Non-profits have pooled the donations of people like me to give children like him a safe place to learn about healthy relationships and human rights after school, and money for school fees and supplies. It's important, but it's not enough.

Sisters and brothers, we have a lot to do. Only by living in solidarity as the one global family are we fully human. And true humanity supports the flourishing of all human beings, for they are our siblings.

Thank you for all the small, medium and large acts of love and justice you are already doing. Let's reflect on how we can deepen our commitment to other members of our one global family, near and far. Let's share links, and ideas, and questions, and figure it out together. Let's make it a priority for our politicians. Let's vote with our pocketbooks, both by what we buy and donate to, and what we boycott and divest from, as well as our ballots. Let's persevere for a big, peaceful, family reunion!

 

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Share Your Ideas

Let's dream and talk out loud about living as one global family. How are you living it out? What ideas can you share? What questions do you have? For now, you can contact me personally via this website or email, or tag me @crypeace2 on Twitter to invite others into the conversation. As the project matures, so will our ways of holding conversations and family meetings. (I've reached out to the owner of the OneGlobalFamily Facebook group; I hope she'll let us use it. If you have another idea, please contact me.)