Endemic Suffering: Why the World Keeps Burning
On a subject that is most sensitive, most avoided by those who prefer to wear blinders — the subject of Palestine and Gaza, of Syria and Sudan, of Somalia and the Congo, to name a few.
These are not isolated crises. These are wounds on the body of humanity, recurring like a fever that never breaks. Why? Why does this global affliction persist, decade after decade? Why are these human catastrophes not exceptions but norms, endemic to our shared history?
Here are some painful truths:
1. Colonial Wounds That Never Healed
Most of these lands were carved up on European maps without regard for the people who lived there. Borders drawn in ignorance — or malice — now define generations of strife.
Colonialism may have left physically, but its legacy remains deeply embedded in political structures, resource theft, and psychological subjugation.
2. The Global Chessboard of Power
What happens in Gaza, Damascus, or Khartoum is not merely “local.” These are the frontlines of proxy wars, oil politics, and hegemonic ambition.
From Washington to Moscow, from Beijing to Tel Aviv, powerful nations fuel these fires with military aid, weapons contracts, and vetoes at the UN. Peace becomes inconvenient when war is profitable and strategic.
3. The Machinery of War Must Keep Running
War feeds industries. Bullets, tanks, drones, and mercenaries are not just tools — they are commodities. Someone, somewhere, is always cashing in.
The military-industrial complex thrives where there is instability. Human lives are collateral in a system where war is not a failure of diplomacy — it is business as usual.
4. The Power of Narrative — and the Silence of Media
The world weeps selectively.
Media, shaped by ownership and political alignment, tells us who is a "victim" and who is a "terrorist." A child killed in Gaza receives a different headline than one in Ukraine.
Dehumanization through language and omission is the quietest, most effective weapon of all.
5. Blood for Resources
In the Congo, blood soaks the soil rich with cobalt, coltan, gold, and oil — all vital to the devices in our hands and the cars we drive.
Multinational corporations, corrupt governments, and armed groups all circle like vultures. Peace? It’s bad for business.
6. International Hypocrisy and Toothless Justice
We created the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and various humanitarian frameworks. Yet, justice is doled out selectively.
Genocide in Gaza? “Complex situation.”
Mass displacement in Sudan? “We’re monitoring the situation.”
Ethnic cleansing? “A regrettable security operation.”
The power of veto has rendered the global conscience inert.
7. Divide, Rule, and Exploit
In many regions, sectarianism and ethnicity have been weaponized. Shia vs Sunni, Christian vs Muslim, tribe against tribe — all played like strings on a colonial violin now in the hands of modern tyrants and foreign strategists.
Where unity might heal, division is injected like poison.
8. A World Numbed to Pain
How many times can one cry for the same injustice? The world scrolls past images of rubble and mangled bodies with weary eyes. Compassion fatigue has set in.
We are too entertained, too distracted, too tired. The algorithm favors beauty over brutality. Our screens are bright, even as the world burns.
So Why Endemic?
Because the very system we live in — politically, economically, and spiritually — is designed to sustain suffering elsewhere so that comfort can exist somewhere else.
Because we still have not learned to see all lives as sacred, all suffering as personal, and all violence as a collective wound.
Because silence is easy, and truth is uncomfortable.
A Closing Prayer for Witnesses
Let us not look away. Let us see, name, and remember.
Let us not fall into despair, but rise with clarity and compassion — not just for activism, but for deep inner awakening.
To recognize our shared pain is to begin healing the soul of the world.
It is my hope that this small gesture — of writing, of speaking up, of raising awareness — might awaken a mind or two. Perhaps, just perhaps, it will move someone to dip into their pocket and help feed a hungry child, send medicine to a shattered town, or simply speak up in their own way.
I wish I could contribute financially myself, but I am not employed and am now living humbly under the care of my children. Still, I offer this: my voice, my heart, my pen.
To those who share shocking images and horrific truths from Gaza and beyond — I respect your courage. I only hope we are all doing more than just witnessing. Action, however small, is love in motion.
It is not my place to judge — truly, it is not — but I confess: hypocrisy unsettles me deeply. Especially when silence is masked as virtue and comfort is mistaken for compassion.
And so, I end with this timeless remembrance:
لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ، يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ، وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Lā ilāha illallāh, lahu al-mulku wa lahu al-ḥamdu, yuḥyī wa yumīt, wa huwa ‘alā kulli shay’in qadīr.
There is no god but Allah. His is the Kingdom, and His is all Praise. He gives life and causes death, and He has power over all things.
A whisper of surrender. A cry of hope. A truth that holds steady when all else shakes.
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