HAMMURABI

     Hammurabi decided to take a visit to the future, wanting to see the advancements made, the system of justice that would prevail. After all, had he not codified the laws for a just and proper society? The Code of Hammurabi was one of the biggest advancements for humanity so of course, the thinking was, that mankind would take further steps along this path.
     Well, so much for that hope and prediction. Granted, there were also rules about the sacrifice of children, especially the first born, but remember, this was pretty early on in the centuries! But what happened to the rules for justice, for a decent government, against corruption, for charity to the poor and needy? Seems to have gone the way of all living things if based on a visit to the Trumpian days of America.
     So Hammurabi was astounded at the amount of corruption in this modern day country. He perused its history and was confused as to how it now found itself in a situation diametrically opposed to all that it had stood for all these almost two and a  half centuries. Checking through the laws of the land via that newfangled gizmo called a computer and some strange thing called the internet, he saw that once there were laws protecting those who needed protection, laws to keep the country clean and productive, but these laws were being rescinded and there was no hope for the country from the judicial branch as its judges were being replaced with those of ignorance or contaminated ties to politics. The legislative branch was composed of some of the biggest cowards Hammurabi had ever seen and the executive branch was apparently the source of the fountains of evil spouting higher and higher in the country.
      People seem to have lost concern for others and even as they mourned the death of a giant of the generation, they allowed one from the garbage heap to rule it, even ignoring the steps this man and his minions took towards authoritarianism. People seemed to be more concerned with the results of games played by grownups wearing strange clothing than they were about their future. Strange indeed!
     Even more odd, the country was cutting off the supply of fresh people, new strength, new ideas, and the economy began to stagnate, to shrink, as the passes into the country began to be withheld. So hospitals were looking for doctors, hotels for staffers, farmers for workers and small businesses were going unwatched and kept closed as their owners were held over in foreign countries, yet it seemed that the organization called Trump had all the workers it needed for its hotels. Something going on here, not the justice that Hammurabi codified in his Code.
     Troubled by this version of a troubled future, Hammurabi wondered what was he to do? Could he fix this or was it up to the people of this future? He wondered at the holiday, Labor Day, which he assumed was meant to honor the laboring people of the country and their contributions to this country, yet was confused as he saw that more and more there were rulings against labor!! Strange country, this United States of America! Strange indeed.
     Hammurabi wondered if he were to add some rules, like no mixing of family and government, or no nepotism or cronyism or bribery allowed in the filling of positions so that one person held too many roles that even were conflicting with each other, if he did so, would it help to keep this country and its future on the better track?
     It was time to return to his time, puzzled, distraught even, for he knew not if he could fix these issues. He despaired for the fate of mankind. Surely, the people of the future had time to learn to behave better, to think better, to rule better. Surely? Well, his time was up here and he had to return. Maybe he would sacrifice a kid or two and the gods would answer his perplexed questions!
     So for us, readers, how many children are we sacrificing in the name of power, in the name of hatred, and how many more pictures of kids going hungry, crying for parents, wandering stunned and wounded in war torn and bombed out cities, how many more will it take till we remember who we are and what and how we are supposed to be, act and help and advance civilization, not encourage its retrogression? How many? How much longer? How many ill people, seniors or not, will it take to remind us that their deaths are upon us and our terrible,  now shredded health care system? How much more of our water and land and air will we pollute in the name of money?
     The answers to these questions, the answers that we should want, are slow in coming and fading in the distance. Hammurabi left his visit to the future with tears and regret. What will we leave in our futures, for the futures of our children?