The Folly of Forecasting

I’m not smart enough to know what the future will be. I can only hope that I have some awareness of the way the present may affect it. The eye-for-an-eye mentality that has been around apparently since the dawn of human consciousness comes complete with a reactionary default that justifies retaliation. Someone just hit me. The natural thing to do is to strike back. This kind of thinking goes further toward a good defense being a good offense, and before we even know it we find ourselves being the first to hit. Whether we are the attacker or the attacked retaliating in defense, we succumb to the vicious cycle of violence begetting violence. We are told, however, that there is a different way, a better way. “What’s the word?” asked the Beatles, “the word is love.” “People will know that you are my disciples by the way you love one another,” proclaims the Christ. As I said at the beginning, I’m not smart enough to know what the future will be, but I think I am smart enough to understand that humankind has the ability to destroy itself unless it learns to truly love.