"How can humanity have come so far..."
After September 11th, 2001, I came up with a quote that I put in my AIM profile:
“How can humanity have come so far to end up so far from humanity?”
The quote speaks for itself. I do not give myself any pat on the back for the prose, as I was not trying to be artistic in this thought. My goal was to convey the thought; the reality.
I would love to see a poll of how many blogs on BlogSpot.com have an entry for today addressing the effect of 9/11 on our lives. I have chosen not to dwell on the death of our fellow citizens or the heroes. I have chosen instead to address a thought I began in the moments following the fall of the North Tower of the WTC above.
Through leaps and bounds, humanity has advanced itself in various ways. We have developed technologies that defy even the most imaginative minds. We have developed cures to previously terminal diseases, invented a successful artificial heart, and even created a little Honda robot-man who can wave at the paper boy.
As always, there is a flip side to this coin. We have developed the deadliest biological weapons the world has ever seen, our foods are becoming increasingly dangerous to our health, and we have developed new weapons and technology to make killing near sport.
Humanity is great, and we are a good people at heart. We, like all things, have our flaws. Our greatest flaw, in my mind, is our repetition of history. On this earth, we are the only beings capable of recording our race’s history. An elephant does not have books of its evolution, or records of its family genealogy. We have the benefit or recording our greatest triumphs and our foulest mistakes.
My direction has strayed, and I am unsure if there is an exact tie in to 9/11. My ultimate thought and point here is that we have not learned from our mistakes. The world wars killed so many human beings over petty issues and disagreements. Greed and the conviction in a single aspiration drove skirmishes into all-out wars. The attacks of September 11th were a display of a conviction against America: that we are evil, strayed, or just wrong in how we interact with the world and God.
These terrorists are not like their predecessors in some ways, but are spot on in others. They are not trying to take over countries like Kaiser William, but they are trying to cleanse the world of people who do not stand with their convictions like Hitler. They may not be trying to take control of governments, but they are trying to strike fear in them so that they have influence over them.
Humanity must look into the definition of what it means to use humanity.
Dictionary.com:
“the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.”
We may not have familiar beliefs in religion, government, or way of life. But we all have one thing in common, and that is that we are all human. Every Monday morning, a old Chinese man sits at the top of the Metro stop I exit playing a Dihu (a traditional Chinese high pitched string instrument). He is not incredible, but he plays for hours. Every Monday, I give him money for playing. I am not tooting my own horn, mind you.
I cite this example simply to make the following point: do not ignore those people who ask for your help. $1 in a cup makes you a humanitarian, believe it or not. You spend 3X that on coffee every day. You may not be fighting terror, but you are ensuring the advancement of humanity.
After September 11th, 2001, I came up with a quote that I put in my AIM profile:
“How can humanity have come so far to end up so far from humanity?”
The quote speaks for itself. I do not give myself any pat on the back for the prose, as I was not trying to be artistic in this thought. My goal was to convey the thought; the reality.
I would love to see a poll of how many blogs on BlogSpot.com have an entry for today addressing the effect of 9/11 on our lives. I have chosen not to dwell on the death of our fellow citizens or the heroes. I have chosen instead to address a thought I began in the moments following the fall of the North Tower of the WTC above.
Through leaps and bounds, humanity has advanced itself in various ways. We have developed technologies that defy even the most imaginative minds. We have developed cures to previously terminal diseases, invented a successful artificial heart, and even created a little Honda robot-man who can wave at the paper boy.As always, there is a flip side to this coin. We have developed the deadliest biological weapons the world has ever seen, our foods are becoming increasingly dangerous to our health, and we have developed new weapons and technology to make killing near sport.
Humanity is great, and we are a good people at heart. We, like all things, have our flaws. Our greatest flaw, in my mind, is our repetition of history. On this earth, we are the only beings capable of recording our race’s history. An elephant does not have books of its evolution, or records of its family genealogy. We have the benefit or recording our greatest triumphs and our foulest mistakes.
My direction has strayed, and I am unsure if there is an exact tie in to 9/11. My ultimate thought and point here is that we have not learned from our mistakes. The world wars killed so many human beings over petty issues and disagreements. Greed and the conviction in a single aspiration drove skirmishes into all-out wars. The attacks of September 11th were a display of a conviction against America: that we are evil, strayed, or just wrong in how we interact with the world and God.
These terrorists are not like their predecessors in some ways, but are spot on in others. They are not trying to take over countries like Kaiser William, but they are trying to cleanse the world of people who do not stand with their convictions like Hitler. They may not be trying to take control of governments, but they are trying to strike fear in them so that they have influence over them.Humanity must look into the definition of what it means to use humanity.
Dictionary.com:
“the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.”
We may not have familiar beliefs in religion, government, or way of life. But we all have one thing in common, and that is that we are all human. Every Monday morning, a old Chinese man sits at the top of the Metro stop I exit playing a Dihu (a traditional Chinese high pitched string instrument). He is not incredible, but he plays for hours. Every Monday, I give him money for playing. I am not tooting my own horn, mind you.I cite this example simply to make the following point: do not ignore those people who ask for your help. $1 in a cup makes you a humanitarian, believe it or not. You spend 3X that on coffee every day. You may not be fighting terror, but you are ensuring the advancement of humanity.
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