Wandering and wondering

Some people think I'm a pretty smart cookie. There are others, however, who think I'm pretty much of a jerk, idiot, know-it-all, and loud-mouth. I can't help but think that the latter group is being more emotional than rational, but, hey, as my friend Julius Caesar used to say, de gustibus non disputandum. You can't please all the people all of the time, so you have to settle for maybe pleasing anyone at any time. I'm not always successful, but I'm still trying.

What gets me -- and it's been getting me for I can't tell you how long -- is how little progress we are making as a species. I'm actually very impressed by the intelligence of some people, by their brightness, their insight, their understanding, the scope and depth of their knowledge ... well, you know what I mean. Of course, I only have to turn on the news any evening to be reminded how foul, ignorant, simple-minded, self-centered, cruel, and inhumane we, as a species again, can be as well.

Oh, sure, we've accomplished a lot, I suppose. We've come a long way since the control of fire and the wheel, and most of our so-called advances have been in technical areas. We can create all kinds of new materials and applications, and scientifically, we know a lot more than we once did. We've penetrated into the secrets of matter and we can cure diseases and provide healthcare in ways that our forebears couldn't even imagine. But, in spite of all of this, I can't see that we've really come all that far in two primary areas: interpersonal relationships and war.

That's an odd couple, to be sure, but let's face it. Just about every technical and scientific advancement we have ever made, we have made because it made killing more efficient. No, I'm serious, give it some serious thought. Even great thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci -- whose art is at times downright inspiring -- spent a lot of time thinking up war machines as well. A contradiction, or simply a fact of human nature? Personally, I think it is the former. As for interpersonal relationships, there is no species on earth that can hate like humans. And, it's frightening to think of how often we do it. The slightest bit of difference can set it off, too. It doesn't have to be a different culture, a different religion ... no a different skin color can still do it for lots of folks, and when you get right down to it, simply rooting for another sports team can do the trick for others.

What's important to keep in mind, though, is that we know -- all of us know -- that it doesn't have to be this way. There is nothing that compels us to hate. There is nothing that compels us to wage war. (And for those of you who get all irate about self-defense, ask yourself how often this was really justified since WW2.) No, the more I think about it, the more it seems clear to me that we, as a species, are simply not living up to our potential. We're not being all that we can be. But, I can't figure out why.

It simply boggles the mind at how little human progress we have made.