Ramblings of an Old Guy Part 9

The young are sometimes known for their idealism. It's a good thing to have ideals but, as I've grown older, I admit I've lost some of mine. I've become jaded in my life by the people and institutions that I once held up...perhaps too high.

At one time I believed wholeheartedly in the values of the Constitution of the United States. While I still believe in many of those values, I've come to more clearly sees the flaws in it too. I used to believe the government of the United States wasn't corrupt. I'm sad to say I no longer believe that. I now think government on every level is corrupt to some degree or another. What I once saw as the Best form of government in Democracy, I now see as a popularity contest that cannot sustain itself indefinitely. 

We Americans have been proud to have the oldest contiguous government on earth while also having one of the youngest countries on earth. The 'old world' has often seen us as upstarts...and they were probably right. What they see now, in 2020, is a corrupt and chaotic exercise in Democracy. We have career politicians that hold office, and power, for decades completely going against what our founding fathers envisioned for us. Power is brokered into personal wealth for far too many. I often wonder where the statesmen have gone but, the truth is, the American government has always been chaotic. Somehow, through the Grace of God, we managed to keep the same form of government. over two centuries now.

One area of our system that many have touted to be the "best in the world" is our justice system. After having dealt with it on several occasions I came to realize that our "justice" system is rarely about justice...it's more often about who has the most money; the best lawyer or the right judge. Where I was once a strict "law and order" adherent, I've come to wonder just how many innocent people are imprisoned and how many guilty walk free because of corruption. The professionals in our system all take an oath to support and defend our Constitution and too many of them go on to put their egos or pocket books before the principles laid down in that Constitution. And "this" is the system so many have fought for in all our wars over more than two centuries. 

Perhaps the saddest fact in this is that so many good men and women have given their lives for the values laid down in our Constitution. They were the true idealists. They bought the freedoms we now casually take for granted and they paid the ultimate price.  

My disillusion goes beyond the government to the military, business, educational institutions and, maybe most of all, to religious institutions. I've seen people play politics in churches, schools, businesses and in the military instead of living up to their ideals. We humans tend to serve our own egos much more often than we serve our ideals. 

I've decided that my number one goal in life is to serve my God and not my ego. I fail at it every day but I keep that goal in the forefront of my mind. I can't change the government; the military; the educational system or the church but I can change me. The times when I can't live up to some of my ideals, like forgiving everyone for everything, I know I can call on my God to do it through me. So I will no longer try to be a part of this world. This is just where I live. I will walk with my Creator to try and rise above the standards the world lives by. It's the hardest thing I've ever attempted in my life but it's the only way worth living.

Reaching out for life

Our knowledge of our solar system is expanding all the time. We've discovered dozens of new moons and planetoids and increased our understanding of the little neighborhood we reside in in our milky-way galaxy. We live in a galaxy of somewhere between one hundred and four hundred billion stars. Our galaxy is one of over two trillion galaxies in the universe. We are driven to explore it. We've spent billions of dollars in searching for life in the universe and the only place we are sure it exists is right here on earth. Life is rare...

As a human being with a three pound brain I am painfully aware that there are some things that I just can't comprehend. I've never been great at math, for example, so I've come to rely on people who are being able to explain it to me in terms I can understand. One such instance I recall is trying to wrap my head around how much a billion dollars is. It was explained to me this way... If you gave your wife a billion dollars and told her to go shopping and not return until it was all spent, then stipulated that she may not spend more than a thousand dollars a day...she wouldn't come home for over three thousand years! When thinking on grand scales like astronomy and how big space is I'm reminded of that analogy. 

While I'm a fan of space travel and searching for extra-terrestrial life, given how we treat each other and the other living things on earth...the only place in the universe we're sure life exists...I wonder what we would do if we did find life elsewhere. We live on the most amazing planet that scientists have ever discovered. This blue jewel of ours is home to billions of different life forms. We humans like to believe we are the center of everything. We've come to dominate the earth. How we've treated each other and the other living things on the earth in our rise speaks to our shame. 

As a species we just don't value life. Now, I think we have the right to kill for only two reasons...for food and for self defense. The other living things on the earth kill for those reasons. But we murder each other over our differences in politics, religion and over the things we want that others have...just to name a few of our motivations. We humans don't value each other so it is no surprise that we murder some of the most amazing creatures on earth for trinkets and magical potions and passing fads.

Elephants, rhinos, tigers, pangolin, sharks and sea turtles are just a few of the other living things we feel entitled to butcher...out of greed and, sometimes, just because we can. When we aren't killing them we cage them or make them perform tricks for our amusement. We do all this while considering ourselves the "highest" form of life on earth. 

The biggest murder human beings are involved in is the murder of the earth itself. We trample across our blue jewel like we make no impact and it's resources will last forever. We pollute the air and the water. We think nothing of strip mines and deforestation...so we can have more "stuff".  We scar the face of the earth testing nuclear and other weapons. We engage in warfare that destroys plant life and kills any animals in it's wake indiscriminately. If any intelligent beings from other planets were to visit us they would undoubtedly be horrified at how we treat each other and desecrate the only home we have.

I suspect that life exists in billions of forms scattered across the universe. I have no doubt that there are other intelligent beings in the universe. Why they would want anything to do with us is a question we should ask ourselves. Who would you rather visit on a journey...adults or self absorbed, spoiled children?  I also suspect that there is a kind of "ethical barrier" in the universe that prohibits species such as ours from infecting other living things in the universe. The adults in the family don't allow the spoiled children to run wild in the neighborhood.

Since the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior I submit that, as a species, we are not worthy of trekking out into the universe and meeting other living beings. We need to grow up first. We need to learn to value our home, each other and the other living things on earth before we attempt to move out of the neighborhood. 

Just a thought...from the Blacksmiths Corner.