Commentary: John Brown Childs

September 9, 2002

Homeland security in the World House

In his 1967 book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Martin Luther King described the "World House" in which "we have to live together--black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu... because we can never again live apart."

COMMENTARY

John Brown Childs is a professor of sociology. Photo: Tom Van Dyke

Today, I can only add that in this World House there are many rooms. Some open up to great sunlit vistas. Others in the basement are damp, dark, and cold. Some rooms lack water, others have decorative fountains. But corridors and stairs connect them all.

That which happens in one room, on one floor, affects all others. Disease, fear, violence do not stay confined. Indeed, we do not live apart even if we live separately.

In the bitter aftermath of September 11, 2001, the United States is rightly concerned with the safety and well-being of its citizens. In the face of obviously concerted efforts to cause death and damage, strategies for "homeland" security must of course be undertaken.

But the United States, like all other nations, is a room in the World House, not the house itself. The other bitter legacies of worldwide economic exploitation and inequality that leave millions of people vulnerable to chronic starvation, insidious poverty, dreadful illnesses, and early death undermine the very foundations of the World House itself. Under these circumstance, no one room is safe no matter how well designed the locks on its doors and its alarm systems.

Homeland security for the United States in the long run depends on a safe, healthy world, in which people have opportunity rather than living in dead-end despair. Real security goes hand-in-hand with our compassion for all, regardless of which national "room" is their residence. Support for global improvement of health, of economic opportunity, and environmental sustenance is vital for security in the United States. Imagine the United States becoming a leader for worldwide safe drinking water, economic equity, public education, and mutual respect among diverse cultures. In such a setting, violence born in distrust and subjugation will have no ground on which to grow.

The "domestic" and the "foreign" are not separate. Our domestic safety depends to a large degree on the well-being of the world itself. So, while we must of necessity guard ourselves against further attacks, we must also reach out to all people around the world with respect and compassion. We become more secure if we join with others in making the World House a home for all.

Return to Front Page