...it goes? Remember "How Now, Brown Cow?" Well, we can now print our own version with the questions rather existential in nature and not so incidentally, rather quite more than frightening. In fact, they are downright scary to the nth degree. How in the name of all that's holy, or perhaps more befitting - devilish, ever more insane, have we managed to bollix things up so that we have reached this point yet again.
WWI - The war to end all wars. Not so much. WWII - Huge numbers of civilian and soldiers killed, global infrastructure shattered and the map of the world, the countries redrawn time and again and again and again. Not to forget the horrors of the Holocaust and the ominous use of the atomic bomb, ever more to hang over us as a tool of Armageddon. One giant step closer to self-immolation.
Peace. Peace, an illusion akin to the Emperor's new clothing. An idea, a concept, more honored in the breach than in the keeping. The status of the world was more of a constantly boiling obnoxious stew. Complaints. Ambitions. Civil and religious warfare. Larger regional wars. Major power involvement. Proxy wars. Just a few of the noxious ingredients poured aplenty into that ever-boiling pot.
It was, is, more of a wobbly understated under acknowledged state of war rather than a solid sure peace. In our infinite stupidity we exacerbated the situation by harnessing the power of our brains, the enormous wealth of the world, into advancing the weaponry of war rather than into those projects which would have benefitted humanity. But of course. Why do otherwise? Far better to achieve MAD - mutual assured destruction, correct?
DefCon 5 is our present situation. We are that close to the worst of the worst. We have allowed our arrogance, our chosen ignorance and defiance of truths to bring us to this point. We rather stupidly or purposely engaged in a constant reiteration of failed politics and policies of appeasement and wishful thinking. We thought we would be able to stir that ever-threatening pot, control it, and remain immune to the severe burns of the emergent steam.
And so here we are. Appeasement has failed. Empty threats have been blown away in the wind. Eternal discussions and 'negotiations' have failed as we knew they would, based as they were on premises faulty and inadequate from the outset. And - here we are. A knife at our throat. A sword at our belly. Held by crazed leaders of a demented nation deeply immersed in the extremes of an ambition soaked with religious extremism, a poisonous fervor to die in the name of jihad. Anathema to humanity, yet there it is - over and over again. Empowered by our own cowardice and denial of history: appeasement and surrender to madmen does not work. Ever. Never.
And here we are again. Iran, a piddling nation enriched and empowered by oil and religion has raised the dial beneath the stew and its contents are boiling over. Destroy Israel. Kill the Yahud (Jew). An eternal cry of the beasts of hate and the perpetration of savagery. All brought to us by the sponsorship of cowardly nations of the West and Arabia whose reluctance to do what must be done, actually enhanced its possibility of actuality and again - here we are.
It does take a brave person to do what is ugly but necessary. At times steps hateful to oneself must be taken if we are to stop enemies from advancing on their beastly path. It need not be to an extreme but the longer we delay and deny, the more extreme the cure. As an example, straight out of history - Harry Truman who hated what he had to do but knew the necessity. And acted. Horrid, awful, but hopefully to prevent greater losses and never to be repeated - if we all took note of lesson. I fear we have not.
These are his words, and we need to read them carefully and think on their import for us.
"The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them. When you have to deal with a beast, you have to treat him as a beast. ...For myself I certainly regret the necessity of wiping out whole populations because of the "pigheadedness" of the leaders of a nation."
Truman never offered an apology for doing what he thought a horrible necessity, for acting as a leader and accepting its burdens. Years later he said, “He would do the exact same thing, given the same circumstances."
Here are some wise words from brighter heads and minds than mine.
"The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology. And it is terrifically dangerous." Edward O. Wilson.
"Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception." Carl Sagan.
I can recognize their prescience and appreciate their warnings. I can take note of their words and hope that others will as well. If I could, I would wish away the ugliness, the woes and ills of this world, but for that act there is a precondition - a new world is awaiting. One we humans would not sully with the nastiness of the present one. Can we? Grave doubt, even as this world is now on a very dangerous precipice.
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Please note I have left Yitzy out of these postings. I believe this ugliness of this world should not sully or besmirch the purity of his soul. But he's ever present within my heart.
Always and forever. Always and forever.
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