The tides of history

The sweep of man’s presence on this earth is like waves of thought washing ashore on the beach of reality. Each wave is different, and some waves are bigger than others. Tides will show as higher or lower water lines on this same beach. This is a relentless process that has gone on for time immemorial.

And so here we are in 2007. Today’s tides are the global ideas of western civilization: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The waves are: the rule of law, material quality of life, globalization, satisfaction with cultural life, immigration patterns, and recently the increased means of communicating ideas. Lurking in the future is the number of people on this earth.

The energy driving these human tides and waves is rational human thought, that is how to think, not what to think. How to think is a trained process. Most of us are born not knowing how to think. Most of are born more primordially instinctual, such as the maternal instinct and the species preservation instinct.

And then there is another instinct: group think. Other similar words and ideas come to mind: mob mentality, rush to judgment, kick ‘em when they’re down, take advantage of their perceived weakness, follow the latest fad, terrorism, tribal beliefs, religious assertion, inquisition, swarming, and even group timidity. No amount of education and training can change this group think instinct, though it will temper it.

There is also never a time for selfish thought, and its subset, the criminal pursuit of self-aggrandizement. We all know it does go on. This too must be controlled. And we must temper our group think instinct with fiscal responsibility, especially entitlements and how they affect our progeny. We can kill the goose that lays the golden egg. At a certain point, something can be straw that breaks the camel’s back.

We in the USA are all part of this time immemorial process. We do not and cannot exist in a world of our own. Most of what we can do is set public policy about training and education, voting for our priorities and our politicians, and establishing a defense of what we are and believe in. This is a tall order for our republican form of government, by the way.

In this is our future as the tides of history continue relentlessly on.