Recent events tell us that any plans to make the world a better place won't be so easy to carry out.
We can't avoid some blame for the troubles. It's said that all that's needed for bad stuff to flourish is for good people to look on in silence.
Even blissful, remote Thetis isn't far enough away for us to feel justified in not speaking out.
Some claim virtue in staying out of the fray, until they become its victims.
Some believe they're excused by borders. They believe what happens elsewhere is none of their business. Besides, they say, they're powerless to do anything about it.
They quietly forgive the guy next door or in next country for his trespasses. They hide behind the notion that he's the king of his castle, entitled to do whatever he wants on his private property. In their assertion of private interest, voices for the public interest are belittled and shouted down.
If those more enlightened about history and human nature had been more vocal, the recent return to unchecked greed and its false claim to raise everyone's boat wouldn't have happened. Instead of its promise of liberty and prosperity, it's bringing on corruption and social injustice and damaging democracy, the natural environment and the hope for world peace.
The world is suddenly a more fearful, dangerous place.
New York Times columnist David Brooks says this is an “extraordinary moment” in history that cries out for an extraordinary response. He says “we've never had a major leader as professionally unprepared, intellectually ill informed, morally compromised and temperamentally unfit” to lead the free world.
Let's reject the return to policies and programs of hatred, intolerance and unquestioning reverence for power so we can avoid their cataclysmic consequences.
We owe it to ourselves, the huddled masses of the world and our children.
Dave Steen
Sunday, February 12, 2017 at 10:09PM 
