Will we have air to breathe tomorrow?

Having sat in class for months studying about globalisation, I felt distracted and disappointed upon what I have discovered. Almost everything is a failure. It seems like we are testing everything to whether check if any implication is suitable. In globalization class last week, we discussed about social movement and the failure of international institutions for instance IMF. Does globalization bring development or problem? Why do people protest against this kind of international body? Or does this international body only represent the rich while they neglect the poor? What is their policy towards development?

Still, I could not think of any way out of the issues brought by globalization. Before, we lived in the small village and appreciating our lives peacefully with the nature. But now, in globalization era: once we were born; then when we are in school age, we go to school – getting higher education, seeking for well-paid job and better position we can stand on so that we can enjoy our lives easier; after that, when we are getting older, we retire from our career, and going back to the small village; at the end, enjoying our lives with the nature. Is this kind of life peaceful and happy? Or is everything already set and we have to follow the trend? Living in the village and appreciating the life with the nature is what we used to have longs ago. Is “the end” part of life what we want? Then why should we spend so much time hanging around and experiencing so many problems in our life? Is that a real life? Shall we go back to where we were and start it over again? Yet, it is already late to do so. Almost everything has been destroyed and ruined, and I do not reject what have been developed. However, the problems are already there—environment, natural resources extraction, political problems and confrontations, migration, refugees, regional and international conflicts, and even war; additionally, the recent issue of nuclear power plant in Japan and hydropower dam along Mekong River Basin.

In globalization time, I see only the poor are the victims while the rich could still possibly enjoy their life. Most of them pollute the common environment we share, and the poor are those who suffer the most. The poor are dying owing to the lack of food to support their life. And then, they, the rich, come out and share very very small proportion of their profit in the name of “humanitarian aid”. After that, the poor have to respect and remember in mind their so-called “kindness.” We, the rich and the poor, breathe the same air, but we eat different food, receive different kind of education and healthcare, and maybe live in worse environment than the rich. Overall, we think differently. Will there be fresh air left for us to breathe while it is getting worse from day to day?

I used to be an optimistic person. Yet, it does not exist in my mind any longer for I've heard and read so many problems while I am here in this globalisation class. However, the problems are already there that we should not keep pointing our fingers to one another. We should join hands and deal with these already existing issues. Will there be a new era after globalization?!