Do You Believe that Man is Civilized?

I am a veteran of the United States Army. I was an Airborne Infantry soldier. I went to Vietnam and I have seen the worst of man. Often I hear educated people talk about our civilization and how far we have come and what is in store for our future. I now find it very strange that I was so very proud of what I did when I was in the Army and how I prided myself in serving my country. Have we really advanced from the beginning when there were only two. According to the Bible the first two brothers engaged in the act of killing each other. Our history is written in the blood of those that came before us and I am sure will follow. What will it take to stop this violent nature? Can it be stopped? We should try to step back and take a close look at just what we are.

Try to imagine that there are many other planets out there that have life on them and that they have been there for millions and millions of years. Imagine that there are places where life has existed far longer than us. Imagine beings that are so far advanced from us that they could not even communicate with us even on the most basic level. I am not saying that this exists of not, all I am suggesting is to try to picture places where beings have existed for a very, very long time. Now, think of what they would be like, what their lives would be like and how they might think of us here on this piece of dirt called earth. I find it very difficult to think that they would even want to contact us for fear of being contaminated not only with physical diseases but with our social disease as well. We are a violent people with a violent past and will probably have a violent future. I wonder how long it will take for us to become truly civilized. I wonder if we have the ability.

We spend billions of dollars to protect our borders and defend our people. We use our best resources to produce products that kill in large numbers. Our heroes are our soldiers. We fear our neighbors. We live in fear. The whole world lives in fear. If other planets have life and they are so far advanced from us they surely must wonder at the absurd nature of man. Considering our violent nature we would not be welcome to the vast resources available from our neighbors and they would shelter themselves from our potential threat. We still like to shoot first and ask questions later. This is the nature of man.

When someone finally says "I have had enough". When someone finally decides that killing is not the answer we may be heading in the right direction. Change is very hard and it takes a lot of trust. Yes, trust; trust in ourselves to be tolerant of others and trust in other men. When we can face our differences without the fear of loss of life and bodily harm we may be headed in the right direction. When we can respect other men for their differences and trust other men to respect ours we may be headed in the right direction. When we spend our resources on bringing ourselves out of the brink of destruction and into the brightness of the future we may be headed in the right direction. When we can walk in the daylight anyplace on this earth without fear and without being a threat we may be headed in the right direction. When this day comes our neighbors may allow us to be a part of what we have been missing all these years, CIVILIZATION.