I am a new mom and just like any other parent, I have a deep desire to provide my family with nothing but the best. Days and nights I have images running in my head regarding the future.
I have always been an optimistic person who has a lot of faith in tomorrow, but optimism came easy for me because my parents provided me with security and courage. It turned out, when the task switched to me in providing what’s best for my son, the word “best” is a word with a lot of doubts.
How will the world be when he turns 18? What kind of competition will he face? What battle, be it economic, moral, or hegemony, must he deal with? Searching for answers from the world’s current situation and my limited knowledge which can only predict so far into the future, the picture of my tomorrows becomes quite worrying.
Lately when I have watched TV, there is constant coverage on the global food crisis. This current blow is the world’s worst since the 1970s. Experts say this is the result of a complex combination of poor harvests, competition with bio-fuels, higher energy prices, surging demands, and a blockage in global trade which have driven up food prices worldwide.
The situation is so dire that even consumers in wealthy nations are being forced to adjust. Food supply and demand is out of balance and shows how the sustaining power of globalization is breaking down. In a world getting more interlinked as never before, a crisis felt by one country will soon affect other countries.
It is apparent the chaos is also caused by global warming. A few months ago I saw the movie Earth and I think it was the saddest movie ever — hands down. The first part of the movie tells the story about a family of polar bears struggling for months to live because the seals — their food supply — are migrating and the ice which the bears live on is shrinking.
And so there I was, sitting glued to the couch, unprepared for what I was about to see, watching the mother bear and her two cubs, skinnier by the day, walking thousands of miles to look for food with little hope. The father bear was away for too long in search of food, and has a heartbreakingly end as he dies when bitten by the sea elephant, too weak to fight back. The story was devastating, ironic but also naturally poetic. It taught me more about the real challenge of global warming — despite my actual experience of having snow fall at the beginning of this year’s spring.
And now my life has gotten more complicated as since then, I have begun to question each and every one of my decisions. I wanted badly to buy my son a designer jacket found on a sale rack, but soon the image of the mother bear re-surfaced. I knew my son have more than enough outfits and unfortunately, I also know that in producing one tiny clothing item, the factory might produce a much larger amount of waste for the environment.
So I put the jacket back on the rack. Another time I wanted to buy a really pretty handbag — practical for chic moms. But then I remembered the shortage of food everywhere in the world, and suddenly buying a handbag which costs as much as it does to feed a family in Africa for five years seemed like a very selfish act.
Economic globalization, aimed to achieve a “higher standard of living’, is instead being referred to by Thomas Friedman as “unleashing forest-crushing forces of development if left unchecked”. So the word “check” here is essential. People need a border in life, we need limits. That is why we have religions, laws and norms. Globalization has gradually decreased boundaries, and not only territorially but also of human’s ravenous needs.
For decades we have insatiably cut down the trees and built skyscrapers in order to produce, to consume, to ignore, until it gets to the point where we can never understand when enough really means enough. Universally, we are buzzing about global warming and the global food crisis but even a massive event such as the UN climate change conference in Bali was unsuccessful in underpinning multilateral strategies to stop the crisis from continuing.
I began to believe the solution is perhaps much closer to home than we realize. The taming of desire, controlling our endless wanting, and barring ourselves from the appetite of maximum exploitation of everything are probably the keys which can make “the real change”.
Those are all the clich*s that Islam and the holy month of Ramadan have tried to teach us for so long — to practice self-control, to feel enough again, and to find contentment in what is available. We need some quiet time to challenge our inner demons who always demand more than what is given. If it is true that we as international community are becoming more connected now than ever before then it also must be true that a single act can really make a difference.
I am clueless as to how to obtain the best shape for my son’s future, but I believe the holy month of Ramadan provides me with the best of exercises to minimize my wants so I can finally find peace and happiness in sufficiency again. Just as was once articulated by Mahatma Gandhi and is still relevant: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.”
Happy fasting, everyone! Hope we all receive the blessings of the holy month.
(Also Published in The Jakarta Post, Sept 01 2008)
The writer is scholarship awardee for Globalization and Law Master Program and currently live in Maastricht, The Netherlands. She can be reached at ini_chida@hotmail.com
Orchida Ramadhania; Politically (in)Correct 