I1: What Do 30 Million Bangladeshis Have To Do With Me?

This started as a simple idea, but when I began writing it, it took on a new life. I'm somewhat hesitant to post this, but I do it in a spirit of discovery. It's longer, so I've decided to put it up in parts.

By 2050, sea levels in Bangladesh are predicted to rise by one meter, flooding one-third of the country’s land mass and creating up to 30 million environmental refugees.

Where will these people go?

Recently, I spoke to my friend Niketu about this matter. He explained to me that this number could potentially balloon and he expects many of these people to arrive in his backyard (see article). He’s from Nagaland in NE India, a small region of 7 sister states that neighbor Burma on the east and China to the north. Bangladesh sits on the southern border. He’s concerned about this migration. People will move, there is no question about that. It’s just a matter of where and when.

How will this go? One could imagine any number of possibilities. Many outcomes could have disastrous consequences as politics, economies, languages and religions engage in face-to-face encounters. Of course, there also exists an incredible opportunity for cooperation.

I believe the word that will define the 21st century is interdependence. Globalization certainly ushered us into the 21st century, informing us that we are ultimately growing closer and closer together as a common humanity and as individuals. It’s not new information, but we need to take a look at how we deal with these matters, as individuals and at systems-level. Interdependence takes it to the next step. It's not just that we are connected, but more that our future is increasingly bound together. The web grows more intricate and complicated and interdependent everyday.

In a world with great equality, this would be genuine reason to celebrate. Wow, what we could achieve if we looked on each other as equals and true neighbors! Learning and growing from one another with the unique sense of joy that only emerges when you create a new relationship with someone with whom you may have imagined it was never possible. It will always be my hope.

I’ll hold onto that ideal, but the reality is rough. The lack of resources on the planet drives us into intense competition for those resources.

Now I love competition (watch me play Beirut, Wiffle, Acquire or any flash of a short soccer career which carried itself completely on my belief that I wanted to win more than anyone else and my lack of skill wouldn’t prevent that from happening). I love the energy that emerges. And, I think competition is important. Competition often brings out our best effort, our determination and our perseverance. Competition can push us to be more creative, more critical and more focused.

But I think the view of competition can be limited. Generally, competition is viewed in a paradigm that produces an outcome in which some people get what they want and some people do not. I win the game and you lose. You get the client and I lose the contract. I get my need or want met and you do not. In so much as this is true, I believe that competition person-to-person or group-to-group is something that has significant limitations.

Are there times when this mentality of win-lose should prevail? Certainly. There are times when people must stand up for themselves in the face of a competitive force that seeks to destroy them. Personally, I think these are important and defining moments in human history.

At the same time, I think that they are more infrequent than we might be lead to believe. I've encountered far more situations in which divided sides come together in an agreement of cooperation. Cooperation means looking through the lens of interdependence. This happens when we find a greater mutual benefit through our connection and joint effort. It's a lens that recognizes that we are bound to each other in our common humanity and that our movement forward, our very survival, depends on my ability to relate with the Other and forge a new path ahead with him together. Basically, when we view competition in a win-lose paradigm often times we end up with a lose-lose situation over the long term. In a world that's interdependent, its critical that we find win-win strategies that prevails for both sides over the long term.

This is an urgent matter in a world of increasingly scant resources and hyper-interconnectedness. There will always be competition between people, but I'm thinking to focus more on the competition between people and other kinds of opposition. When I look at the state of affairs in the world today, my view demands that I take notice of the real enemy and join together with others and tackle the opposition, which is rarely my neighbor. Nay, our real opposition is corruption, human rights violations, climate change, malaria, starvation, etc. If we are stuck in looking at each other as enemies, how can we expect to meet the challenge of these titans?