206
June 2/88
SURVIVAL
No living creature actually survives. The passenger
pigeon survived for a long time. If nations have a
national conscience, we might all share a little guilt.
Throughout history, thousands of small nations were
wiped out. Some by a poor life style or culture, others,
though successful were destroyed by human predators.
Plenty of examples of this.
History, as it has been handed down to us has been
full of glory and tragedy including a lot of destruction of
the environment. Dictators have tended to kill off the
brightest of their people in an attempt to perpetuate
their own family or their own personal power.
What of the future? Will we as a people or other
nations learn enough from history to avoid repeating
even worse destruction?.
Possibilities:
1. The nuclear bomb.
2. Total world hunger. This could act like another bomb.
Slower but deadly. World population is steadily increasing
while food growing food potential is decreasing. There will
be hunger everywhere. If a billion people are starving
will peace be attainable?
3. World social chaos could bring on a breakdown in
humanness. In many areas this appears to have happened.
Without discipline, there is no freedom. We may be losing
the art of self government. Plato said that democracies
could start out well but had always ended in failure. So
far,in spite of our mistakes, our country has been a bright
spot in history. With our present knowledge and experience and a
little luck we should be able to avoid the fate of so many
great nations of the past.
Comments.
This is dismal talk but realistic. The atom bomb
is here. The world hunger is here. Social chaos is
increasing. What to do? What to do?
A hopeful way would be to concentrate on demonstrating a
better way of life as well as having adequate weapons.
Let us day to Russia. We have been destroying our farm
lands. You and the rest of the world have been doing the
same.
We have been wasteful of our natural resources. You
too. have been wasteful. We are no longer a thrifty people.
Let us get together and work out as way of life that could be
an example for other peoples.
One of the great dangers is ignorance. Plato claimed
that ignorance was not a lack of knowledge but the ignoring
of it. There is a lot of ignorance these days especially a
knowledge of history. Someone must be teaching ignorance.
with the availability of knowledge, this seems ridiculous.
