Human progress: not so fast

It’s the 21^st century, year 2009. We drive cars to work and soccer practice. We fly to Paris and to the moon. We wash our hands to prevent sickness. We brush our teeth to keep them longer. We claim to know the laws of nature; Gravity: things fall at a rate of 9.81 meters per second squared. We know what it means to be civilized and often live by guide of proper manners – a handshake here, a please and thank-you there. Millions of books have been written, some solely on how to live the good life, others on how to be happy, and still others on how to live ethically. We live longer. We’ve come so far.

I forgot to mention: We built guns. Tools that pointed projectiles rocket out of the barrel like Apollo 11 left the ground of Houston, Texas. We upgraded these so they can shoot bullets faster, more efficiently – kill more, kill faster. We built tanks and improved explosives to “protect” us from those bullets. Our protection became further destruction. We built planes designed to drop bombs. We “improved” fire; now it can stick to people – napalm. We split the atom. We built the atomic bomb, and then we dropped it. We killed a lot of people. We may live longer, but we have mastered the ability to take the gift of life away faster than ever.

How far have we come? As I pick up my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – every day of the week – issue of “The New York Times,” I find conflict. People are shooting guns and firing rockets. Jews are fighting Arabs. Arabs are fighting Jews. I read it interested, but unsurprised. Conflict in Israel wasn’t news; it was like reading a history of the nation. A nation seemingly built – not on – but in, conflict and strife. I wanted to better understand the reason behind the fighting because I felt ignorant for my lack of knowledge while I was flipping through the newspaper pages. Who exactly or what exactly was Hamas? I did my homework, and it did show me the ties to the country’s history. The fighting was like so much of the previous years: a battle between Jews and Arabs. I assure you, that this is the simplified version.

I had spent so much time reading about Israel and Hamas that I forgot my own nation was at war. Out of sight, out of mind, right Mr. Bubble? American soldiers trudging through stale, deserted landscapes in Afghanistan and others picking through potential terrorists and guerrillas in Iraq. Guerrilla, ha, who is the real gorilla here? Think about that one, King Kong, and then let me remind you – people are dying. And they aren’t dying from old age, they are dying from violence. They are dying from our progressive inventions.

They are dying all over the world: Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan, to name a few. Realistically, though, you should spin the globe and stop it with your finger. If that trigger-pulling-capable finger plants itself on some sort of land, you could assume that someone was or has died there violently.
It’s easy to forget about all these people when you only have pictures and typed words to teach you about them. We wouldn’t forget if we lived and breathed death. But we don’t, and we let it happen. I do nothing and you do nothing. Or we don’t do enough. We cry during war movies. Cry now: people are fighting real wars.

In the Wild West, cowboys used to be pleased or happy if they were able to die with their boots off, that is to say, in bed. Today, I’m not worried that I’m going to die with or without my sandals on. I’m worried that my body will be ripped to pieces by machine-gun fire, or that I’ll be incinerated by a Hydrogen bomb, thus becoming just another number, another casualty.

What will my children worry about? Will they invent peace on earth, or will they blow the earth to pieces?

-Alex Tandy