Our closer look at the TED Translators who attended TEDWomen 2017 last week continues with Chinese translator Anny Chung. Her response to our questions—What’s the most pressing issue, either on a global or local scale, that comes to mind for you when you think of this year’s TEDWomen theme, Bridges? What bridge-building effort(s) do you believe ought to address this issue?—illuminates an essential bridge to be built if we’re to have any success in tackling our world’s biggest problems.
I believe one of the most important bridges we must build is that between our minds and our hearts. As a scientist, I deal in evidence, facts and logic. To me, many of our world’s most urgent problems persist because of the frequent disconnect between what our minds understand to be true and what our hearts obstinately wish were true.
For example, a wealth of evidence points to global warming and climate change as crises that will exact huge human and economic costs in the coming century; yet we do nothing to counter them because we’re comfortable in our current lives. Gun-control policies around the world have firmly established that gun-safety laws decrease civilian death tolls; yet scores of people still feel maligned and threatened by the prospect of increased firearms regulation. Research reveals again and again that institutional racism exists and that equality does not necessarily amount to justice; yet many American families and schools avoid much-needed conversations because even broaching the subject feels uncomfortable. Globally, women’s health and economic statuses improve when they can access birth control and exercise autonomy over their own bodies; yet groups and individuals continue to willfully deny women these rights.
The fact that one doesn’t personally perceive climate change, experience gun violence or struggle under systemic biases doesn’t mean that these (and other) pressing issues in our world don’t exist. If we could open our hearts to the collective wisdom of minds everywhere, our world would be a saner place. What’s more, it would be a place that celebrates solutions rather than turning a blind eye to its problems.