This builds on previous posts about "Terre des Hommes", Saint-Exupéry's autobiography (the preceding one can be found here).
(Latécoère 26-6. Source: link)
Towards the end of the book, the author expresses universal aspirations for mankind :
Pourquoi nous haïr? Nous sommes solidaires, emportés par la même planète, équipage d'un même navire. Et s'il est bon que des civilisations s'opposent pour favoriser des synthèses nouvelles, il est monstrueux qu'elles s'entre-dévorent.
Puisqu'il suffit, pour nous délivrer, de nous aider à prendre conscience d'un but qui nous relie les uns aux autres, autant le chercher là où il nous unit tous. Le chirurgien qui passe la visite n'écoute pas les plaintes de celui qu'il ausculte: à travers celui-là, c'est l'homme qu'il cherche à guérir. Le chirurgien parle un langage universel. De même que le physicien quand il médite ces équations presque divines par lesquelles il saisit à la fois et l'atome et la nébuleuse. Et ainsi jusqu'au simple berger. Car celui-là qui veille modestement quelques moutons sous les étoiles, s'il prend conscience de son rôle, se découvre plus qu'un serviteur. Il est une sentinelle. Et chaque sentinelle est responsable de tout l'empire.
Which means (abridged):
"Why hate each other? We are all in the same boat, borne by the same planet. While it is good that civilizations compete, in order to favor new developments, it is monstrous that they devour one another.
Since our salvation lies in finding common goals, why not look for truly universal ones? The surgeon [...] speaks a universal language. So does the physicist, when he meditates on nature's equations. And so does the shepherd, who discovers that he is more than a simple servant; he is a sentinel, and every sentinel is responsible for the whole empire."
Saint-Exupéry was born in 1900, so World War I raged during his teenage years. He was living with his widowed mother, the head nurse in a military hospital. One would expect a young French aristocrat growing up against this backdrop to entrench his views along the lines of the ambient vindictive nationalism.
Instead, he promotes looking beyond national and civilizational boundaries, and pursuing universal goals so that bridges can form more easily. His suggestions touch on the vocational sphere, i.e. choosing advanced professions in healthcare and science, but beyond that, he argues for a universal state of mind. Even shepherds have a part to contribute; humanity relies on the personal responsibility of every single person.
The book was published in 1939, but its message was not heeded.
