Last day of vacation.
Spent the day at home reflecting on the past week. Whenever I take the time to get away from the daily routines, to become reacquainted with our community, our town... I end up feeling rested and full but a little bittersweet. I'm sure that people of 50 years ago, 100 years ago felt this but... I can't get away from the realization of how much change has occurred. I suppose just like any period of history we could say that many things are better, but many things are much worse. The way people think about their place in the world is so much different than it used to be... even just 50 years ago! But the world is also different. To think of the thousands of animals that future generations will never see again; the great cities submerged beneath the oceans; the ability to travel half way across the globe - in a day! But then I see the vids - the violence, the rush, the fear, the incredible poverty and the ridiculous greed, the wars - it makes me so grateful for the life we have now. I watched the video from the museum again this morning and was struck by the fact that none of those people wanted anything more than for humanity to live up to its potential. So many of their hopes came true - some in ways they may not have wished for, so many have yet to come to pass.
Though there are fewer of us now than then - we are accomplishing great things: we have learned to live in harmony with each other for the most part; we have been forced to live in harmony with the planet; our lives are full - we work hard but have something to show for our work at the end of the day - something tangible - we have our lives. I think that's all people wanted even then. I guess people thought that if they controlled the planet, they could control their lives. What a shock it must have been...
I wonder what someone will think if they read this journal fifty years from now. Will they think that it was just the ramblings of some anonymous fellow from the past, or will they find meaning in it as I found meaning in the video from the museum? Will things change as much in the next fifty years as they did in the half century passed? Will someone discover some new way to create enormous power like they did in the Age of Oil and start the cycle all over again? Somehow I doubt it. I think we've learned the lesson well. I don't think that places like the Museum of Extinction would exist had we not.
I find myself haunted a bit by the woman in the vid who knew she would not be around to see our age, but she spoke to her grandchildren - I just want her to know, if she's out there somewhere watching, that we are trying. We are trying to live from our hearts and we, like you, are doing the best that we can.
