The World as Rainbow

Multi-awarded script writer Ricky Lee often tells his students or participants of his workshops that there are various routes to Quiapo, a business district in Manila. It was his way of stressing that there’s no single formula in coming out with an excellent story for the movie or TV screen.

Lee’s advice practically applies to all aspects of human life and human relations. It also applies to how we relate with our planet and to how we attempt to reach ideal goals such as changing the world.

Take the case of the cause for the environment. There actually are various shades of environmentalism as there are diverse species in a forest ecosystem. Some environmentalists focus on campaigns such as dramatizing protests against destructive industries, genetically-engineered organisms, and against adverse laws and policies.

Some engage and wrestle with policy-makers, seeking to influence the outcomes of laws or policies so these become friendlier to communities and to the planet as a whole.

Still others work within communities, establishing seedling nurseries and seed banks and helping communities plant seedlings as they seek to recover vanishing tree and traditional food crop species.

Some environmental organizations try to combine various thrusts. But a single organization can only do so much. It actually takes various kinds of organizations to make a dent on the environment.

The same applies with how we view the world. There’s no single worldview, which can explain everything. The world is not black and white; it’s actually a rainbow.

One of the greatest sins of Hitler was that he thought and believed there was only one race that deserved to exist in the world – the Aryan race. So racism and all these other forms of discrimination begin from the thought and belief that one’s race or ethnic origin or one’s worldview or religion is the most superior.

Although his country suffered from the racial discrimination of the white colonialists under apartheid rule, Nelson Mandela, when he took over South Africa, did not order the execution of his country’s tormentors. With the advice of Bishop Desmond Tutu, Mandela instead pursued the way of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness. Mandela and Tutu asserted that they should not fall into the trap of replicating the sins of their colonial tormentors. This, they said, would only start a new cycle of violence, discrimination and suffering. Mandela instead declared that South Africa would become a “Rainbow Nation” where people of all colors could live “in harmony with equal opportunities.”

So the world is not black and white. Some of us maybe excused for still thinking it is. But that was the time when we still had black and white television. The world’s beauty and splendor can be viewed better from the various colors of a rainbow.