Rethink, learn, adapt

STANLEY G. JOHNSON Little Rock

This will probably sound pessimistic to some, but should probably go without saying: There really is no solution to the social ills of America that will not itself need overhauling somewhere down the line. Institutions and traditions by their very natures become obsolete. You might say they are supposed to.

It is the human condition to make mistakes. And I don’t mean simple errors in judgment or calculation. All animals make those, or predators would never land their prey. I think it is only

Homo sapiens, among creatures, who is capable of intentionally bad behavior. Certainly only people are capable of total self-delusion. I’m pretty sure no other animal purposely places its young in imminent danger.

The saving grace for us all is that we can rethink our ways and learn to adapt, even to an environment that has changed so much it would exterminate most species. But no adaptation is onceand-for-all. And no institution can be rebuilt in such a way as to be good forever after. That’s not how things work.

There is of course a part of us that wants things to be comfortable and to stay that way. Our error lies in considering that to be our “human” part. It is not. It is the part of us that is of Earth*, the tribal animal whose benevolence does not extend beyond its tribe.

The human part of us was added, in the form of the Breath of Life, or Cosmic Fire if you prefer. When this fire is alive in us, the obsolete constructs of our psyche are easily demolished so that something new may be tried. Life is not static. Human beings are not meant to be static. There is no such thing as duration that does not end. True continuity lies in acceptance of death so that life may renew. But purposely brutal killing is not human behavior.