If there is peace on earth, it must be hiding under a rock
Now that we have stuffed ourselves fuller than a Beijing subway at Thanksgiving dinner, the Christmas season is full bore upon us.
People, of course, shop until they drop or run out of bandwidth during Christmas season. And wish for peace on earth.
But they might as well wish for Martians on earth. Or wish for broccoli not to exist on earth.
None of these scenarios will ever happen.
Granted, peace is a noble concept. But it’s the stuff of pure fantasy and holiday lore.
There never is peace on earth. Never was. Never will be.
There always is some conflict going on in some nook or cranny of the globe, like America where gunfire now is universal background noise.
Conflict on earth has been with us since Cain and Abel had their little disagreement. And it will be that way until our planet checks out, courtesy of some apocalyptic end game.
Confrontation is the nature of mankind. Ditto the animal kingdom. We were born to squabble. We’re not happy unless we’re dripping with venom. Call it our inherent territorial imperative or whatever, but we want to choke anybody who intrudes on our turf.
Turning the other cheek may have been all right with Jesus, but how many among us also are divine?
OK, plants seldom seem to break out in fistfights but that’s only because they are rather stationary.
Even some insects are ornerier than a rhinoceros with bad psoriasis. Mosquitoes, driver ants, killer bees, tsetse flies and giant Japanese hornets (some of them bigger than Japanese human beings) are a particular nasty bunch you never want anywhere near a picnic near you.
I realize that all of this sounds rather harsh. And I don’t want to come across as some sort of Scrooge mainlining malice. My comments merely reflect the ever elusive and eternally ephemeral nature of peace.
Earthly species only survive if they are competitive. And competitive types easily can become rattlesnake angry
Universal patience is a virtue that doesn’t exist on earth now that the biblical figure Job has gone onto his just reward. A lack of patience is not because of some moral deficiency. It simply wasn’t programmed into our genetic structure.
Indeed, if our DNA had been engineered to make us all pious and peaceful, our Stone Age ancestors would have been so much lunchmeat to the dinosaurs. And none of us would be around today to wish each other peace on earth every Christmas.
TX Tagline:Mike Zielinski, a resident of Berks County, is a columnist, novelist, playwright and screenwriter.