BELARUS (COUNTRY CODE: BY)

The Bigger Picture: One Earth, One Atmosphere, and One Species (the Human Species)

The Benjamin Franklin legend famously goes something like this: "As the Constitutional Convention adjourned, a woman [Mrs. Eliza Powell] asks Dr. Franklin, 'well, Doctor, what we got—a republic or a monarchy?' 'A republic,' replied the Doctor [Benjamin Franklin], 'if you can keep it'." [Source: James McHenry. Diary, September 18, 1787. Manuscript. James McHenry Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (63.02.00) [Digital ID# us0063_02p1] | www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/convention-and-ratification.html#obj8]. Similarly, despite their many differences (in languages, cultures, religions, governments, economies, races, and so forth), it also can be stated that the peoples of the Earth have a magnificent planet to sustain them, that is, if they can keep it.

Too often there are humans who seem not to be content with living and let live. Someone always seems to want more<—more territory to rule over, more power to wield, more luxurious living, more money, more fame, more conquests, and so forth. Human psychological traits such as blind ambition, vanity, egotism, and prejudice are the kinds of things that place the human race in peril given the simultaneous existence of extinction-inducing technologies such as nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological weapons of mass destruction not to mention the existence of a human-induced global warming problem. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, with the same impetus or vigor, humans wanted more peace, goodwill, and prosperity for all on Earth? Wouldn't it be wonderful if all nations, cities, and neighborhoods earned the lowest risk or completely safe travel ranking?

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