We live in a violent world as the daily news in many places easily documents. In Europe, Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine and mass killings of innocent civilians continues. In the USA, mass shootings of innocent people occur daily and pepper the evening news frequently. One can find examples of people killing other people in every corner of this planet, on every continent and in nearly every country. It is no secret that the human species has a long history of violence against other humans dating back to recorded time and stories of the origin of the species. That tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden turned out to be the tree of knowledge of war and acts of inhumanity.
Our species is now exploring space and the possible
existence of civilizations in other parts of the universe. If advance organisms
are found, I am curious to learn if they engage in such brutality against others
and other members of their own species. Along with Edgar Allen Poe, I wonder if
there is balm in Gilead as promised in the Jewish bible (Jeremiah 8:22). The Raven’s
answer was “nevermore.” I honestly do not know.
However, the focus on people killing other people
overlooks a larger threat to us all. Namely, the environment in which we live
and occasionally thrive is deteriorating and threatening us all. Efforts to
reduce gun violence and bring peace to our species overlooks the larger problem
of our continued existence on this planet.
While I personally detest human violence and would
like to see gun violence in my country and the state of Texas greatly reduced,
I wonder at our inability to control or influence things within our potential
control, such as gun violence and war, and our continued disregard to the environmental
factors that influence our very existence. While the climate is at the far
extreme of things we can influence, there are some things that could be done
but are not even seriously considered. We are fighting the wrong enemy.
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