This work was last updated September 7, 2020

The author has marked this work as incomplete.

I guess that’s the problem isn’t it? We look at the entire course of human history and we pat ourselves on the back. So proud of how far we’ve come. We say, “Look how much we’ve grown. They were barbaric, but we are smart enough to know what’s right, what’s better.”
Have we really come that far? In a 100 years, if we are still around, they’ll say the same thing. That we were less evolved, less knowledgeable. As did the ones that came a century before us.
The truth is humanity has never really changed, nor have our problems. They have different clothes, different faces, different words, but the message is all the same in the end. The only difference is there is more people to fulfill these ends. I’ve been told that humans are rational actors; I have seen little example in practice.
Spoiling our nests. Killing one another for possession of the tangible. Killing even more for the intangible. Yes… power is curious, as is value.
What is the worth of a life? Ask any human that, the most delusional would say it is priceless. Others would say a threshold, and beyond that cost it is no longer worth it. Another would say that it is clearly not worth all that much. All of these views contain truth, but the real human answer isn’t any of them. The answer is a question.
Does the loss of this life affect me?
That is the real question one asks themselves when faced with the dilemma. Why was there such a huge movement to end the spread of covid? Because people saw themselves at risk. Either the people around them, the businesses they rely on, the institutions they frequent and even their own lives.
More people die of starvation, drinking dirty water, overcrowding. Have we the power to stop this? Yes. Do we? No. Do we even care? Not really. Why? Because it has nothing to do with us, so we pretend that it’s not happening. As if it’s a figment of our imagination. The human condition isn’t to seek the most rational option, the one which would benefit all of humanity. No. It’s to seek what we perceive as the most comfortable for ourselves.
A child is taken from his home, given a gun, and is told to fight.
A man lies in his own filth, passing from a disease cured decades ago.
A woman rolls out of bed and walks to the bathroom. Not knowing that miles away someone has turned her into a widow.
Another lies in the sand, raped and beaten, wondering if this is all there really is.
What has changed? In its essence humanity has remained constant. Just because we choose not to see it doesn’t mean it is not there.