The Most Disturbing Portent For the Future:
Human civilization has a lot on it's plate these days: overpopulation, climate changes, atmospheric and water pollution, depletion of natural resources, genocidal wars, terrorism,
a grossly distorted distribution of wealth, violence used as the means to solve conflicts at every level of society, etc. The onslaught of major problems is coming from all directions. And to address all these matters the last eight years we had Bush (the Dumber One), maybe the dumbest President ever. The timing to have such a Dumbo could not have been worse.
It is hard, at least for me, to be bubbly and optimistic about the immediate future. I know in the long run evolution has always been upward, but en route there have been periods of planetary disasters. God's created process of evolution is beyond our ability to appreciate the full brilliance of the process, but we understand enough to know that no species yet has ever been able abuse it's own environment without paying the price. It is true, "the Audacity of Hope" is really all we have left, coupled with Obama's "Yes We Can". Time will tell.
The most painful and depressing aspect of current human life on our planet is the U.N. estimation that 100 million people are going to die of starvation in the next few years. Large numbers tend to be incomprehensible and increasingly shrugged off. It is simply hard to be shocked anymore. While this large figure is out there, and to my knowledge no one disputes the prediction, it is not part of conversation, political debates, or on anyone's priority to do anything about it. I doubt one could find any other period in human history on the planet when so many people starved to death. In the past, the poorest of the poorest could at least live off the land. Not any more. Millions across the globe are homeless, jobless, sick from all kinds of preventable diseases, defenseless against persecution and violence, and thus 100 million of them are going to starve to death in the next few years. Sadly, practically no one gives a damn. I listen to these so called 'hot button' issues that generate such heated feelings and debate, far more debate and feeling than any of the issues already listed above, and I conclude some sort of irrational emotional insanity rules the day.
100 million people! 100 million people! Will starve to death shortly!! And no one is going to stop it! The Pope will come out and throw some sort of Holy Water around, the evangelical Protestants will remain apoplectic about same sex marriage, the Muslims will form Jihads about this or that breach of their own religious beliefs, Reverend Jackson will advise cutting people's nuts off, Bush will stumble through reading statements written and prepared by the sleazy evil cabals around him, blood pressures will rise over whether Favre should stay retired or not, politicians will debate over which wars should be given priority, prisoner tortures will rise to new levels, communities will pass laws stating how many inches of underwear can be shown above the pant level (as if the young people who dress this way will not just stop wearing underwear), and oh, just complete the list on your own---and while all of these raging debates go on 100 million people will starve to death.
100 million people are about to starve to death! That is 50 times as many Vietnamese as we killed in the Vietnam War. It is 50 times the number of Jews Hitlerism killed in World War II. That is 33 thousand times the number of people killed in the World Trade Center bombings. That is 500 times the number of Iraqis Saddam Hussein killed. That is one third the population of the United States. Of course 100 million in not exactly the biggest number around these days---the U.S, spends 10 billion dollars every month just for one war. These 100 million people could easily live on a dollar a day. That is $30 dollars a month. If we could just stop waging war for one month we could spare enough money to prevent these 100 million people from starving for years. I wonder if we spent our money on making the poor more prosperous across the globe whether we might regain some prestige across the globe?
It is hard for me to fathom how 100 million people are about to starve to death and it causes hardly a ripple of concern anywhere. Now that we have little miniature camcorders maybe most of these deaths could be recorded and played across screens erected along our highways. You know, something to amuse us as we drive along singing "zippidy do dah dey, my oh my what a wonderful day". Certainly you would think those wringing their hands over the sanctity of life would be screaming and marching and forming pilgrimages to save these 100 million people about to starve to death. Instead, while these ultimate 'nothingburgers', having suffered short or long lives of helpless desperation, die as they lived---human nonentities---the privileged of the world, gated from reality----wine and dine away in splendor.
Like I stated, to me, I find this reality about as painful as anything else in life. Has human civilization really come to this? It really doesn't matter anymore? My fussing these days is often about the lack of any population control policies by governments. But perhaps I miss the point---there are population control policies abounding across the globe: freedom fighters, genocidal wars, starvation, death from preventable disease, terrorism, well armed populations killing each other for reasons of race, religion, natural resources, status, and just about anything else irksome at any given time, and of course the King of Population Reduction across the globe----George Bush.
Some thoughts are kind of obsessive. I have this cousin dying of ALS and for more than a year she can't move any part of her body while her mind is unaffected. As an adult I have met her maybe twice in the last 50 years since she lives 1000 miles away. Still I think about her situation often---such an existence is unimaginable to me. Communication with anyone is almost impossible considering she can't speak. She can't even eat. Though I think often of her I never pray for her. The idea that God directly is involved in our daily lives is pure fantasy. Like God chose her for such a fate or waits for us to pray to save her. Really, that is some stretch. I don't pray for my own good health either. My own belief, and that is all it is, is that God created the evolutionary process and this process is governed by it's own laws with few, if any, interferences from God. That is just the way it seems to be.
So those 100 million people are out there, paying the price for overpopulation, weighing on my mind, a sort of sobering offset to my own good life. I catch glimpses of these hell holes across the globe on TV, somebody captures a picture of human life in its most depressing state. It takes the edge off of many things about life and reality. The national anthem, ritualistic church services, glittering cathedrals, Popemobiles, Pledge of Allegiances, flag burning, abortion, gay marriage, school prayers, the right to own all kinds of guns, the War on Drugs, Freedom fighters, huge military budgets, the weapons industry, tax breaks for the wealthy, unrestrained capitalism, military alliances----all of these things start to seem inane, misguided---cruelly misplaced priorities----symptoms of a world gone mad---a world too much with us with too much conflict and intolerance. 100 million people should not be starving to death in the next few years, humans should take responsible reproduction serious, there should be a war on misery, a war to protect our natural resources, a global blueprint to ensure every human adequate health care, a living wage job, pension plans, an environment of personal security, an opportunity for good education, and the right of every sovereign nation to control its own destiny, its own natural resources, its own land ownership, its own form of government and all people everywhere of every religious bent should simply agree to the Golden Rule: "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". As Lincoln observed, this rule is the basis of all moral behavior, and by itself should be the blueprint for government decrees and laws. Quality of life matters, for all species on earth. Humans are neither the end point nor the special favorites of God in the evolutionary process. It is a fanciful concoction that God made man after His own image.
100 million people should not be starving to death. If that is not wrong, nothing is wrong. If we, as a human species, can tolerate this, we are on the road to sure disaster as a species. If we, as citizens of the richest country on the earth (for now) can tolerate and re-elect a George Bush and even contemplate electing anyone to continue the same misplaced priorities, the continued accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few, the continued use of violence to solve conflict, the continued build up of a massive military industry, the continued silence on population control, and the continued indifference to the 100 million people about to starve to death-----then everyone everywhere better tighten their seat belts, the future is going to be a chaotic rough ride with no group on the planet exempt from the dire consequences. Maybe we ought to take a long hard look into the eyes of those dying across the globe---this may well be the fate of our own offspring sooner than we think, if indeed we are thinking much at all these days.
