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As far as human memory can reach, mankind has found it expedient to exert available political and physical power to attain imagined goals and to acquire desired resources. Twenty-first century basic resources--including the electricity and clean water currently missing in Baghdad--are not only ever-increasingly in demand; their supply is both finite and vulnerable. In the spring of 2003, are human beings designing schemes and creating structures that make ourselves and our neighbors ever more separate and ever more vulnerable to the less fortunate, who have had no recourse other than violence to make their presence visible? Or, on the other hand, are we opening our eyes to the explosion of right-in-our face examples of humanitarian outreach (e.g., aid to children worldwide via the United Nations Children's Fund, and the International Red Cross in Iraq)? Are we recognizing the extraordinary example of the tearing down of barriers and submission to a measure of loss of sovereignty, to further the common good, by the states of the continually expanding European Union? To Cosmo members, these are not unimagined happenings. They need to be heralded and supported, as they are closely related to "the Cosmo spirit." Almost 100 years ago, at least a dozen chapters of the Cosmopolitan Club undergraduate fraternity sprang up, particularly in the Midwest, to welcome the presence of students of diverse nationality, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Humanitarian outreach and genuine excitement about diversity of thought and perspective, freely expressed, continue to be the hallmarks of the Cosmo spirit. Just a few weeks ago, that Cosmo spirit lost one of its strongest advocates and nurturers, our board member in the 1960s and again at the time of her death, Virginia Coultas Sharp. Known as "Grandma" to hundreds, if not thousands, of families around the world, Virginia kept in touch with the innumerable U of I students for whom she had provided friendship, hospitality, and guidance over the last half century. Like Virginia, all of us need to find strength in our Cosmo connections, choose words and actions that stretch our values... ** Above all nations IS humanity! ** |