Coming Together

RONALD REAGAN, of all people, said it best, or as well as anyone. I believe he was either speaking at the United Nations, or holding a press conference, when the president said, essentially, that if suddenly the human race were confronted with an unfriendly, aggressive extraterrestrial threat, humanity would instantly drop all of its innumerable petty differences and unite against the alien aggressor. I could not agree more. I still consider this comment one of the best of the few truly intelligent remarks Reagan ever made. At least, it sounds good. However, even as we speak, humankind is arguably currently confronted with a threat to human existence every bit as real and deadly as alien invaders; cliimate change, and a collapsing ecosystem, both of which are totally obvious to anyone paying attention. Arguably, the human race should already have long since united in a world wide project to reverse climate change, heal and preserve nature, and save life on Earth, including humanity, for the future. Instead, we continue to engage in endless wars, quarrels, and petty squabbles. Much of what I see around me has me shaken up a bit. I swear I never expected to witness another European ground war in my lifetime. I would have thought them obsolete....Now, we seem suddenly, are suddenly threatened once again with nuclear war. How nice it would have been to have lived my life without the dreadful thought and reality of nuclear war hanging over my head. Where I live we are experiencing the second severe drought since summer. Vegetation is starting to die. The extreme weather patterns long predicted by climate change scientists have arrived, frighteningly. I grew up and live in an area which is supposed to be rolling hills, trees, rivers, and lakes. At least, for the past few million years its been that. I can see climate change turning my region into a grassland prairie, or worse. From now on every year is likely to be more extreme than the previous, climatically. Now would be the perfect time for us all to unite as a species, a truly united human species determined to reverse the damage we have caused. As I approach the end of my life I notice that I have become bitter, angry, cynical, and that I don't really like people very much anymore, not like I used to. Well, so be it. But I hope I can muster the hopeful attitude that for the future of life on Earth, including humankind, good, positive, healthy outcomes are still possible.