Humans are supposed to be the smartest species on the planet.
And really, I think that at one time we were smart.
At one time we were capable of producing all the wonder and beauty of Golden Age Baghdad, Song and Ming China and the Italian Renaissance, and the wisdom of The Buddha, Plato and Christ.
For thousands of years, we produced the beauty and wonder of ancient Egypt, Minoan Crete, ancient Greece, Persia, India, China, Russia, Japan, Byzantium, ancient Mexico and Peru, African music and dance, and Renaissance Italy.
For thousands of years we followed sages such as The Buddha, Confucius, Lao-tzu, Mahavira, the ancient priests of Ra and Osiris, wise shamans of Africa and native America, Plato, the Prophet Isaiah, Muhammed and Christ.
But sometime in the 18th Century we went to bed smart and woke up stupid.
Clever, but stupid.
We started wanting more than we need.
In 18th Century Britain, as smart humans still ruled in France, Turkey, India, Russia, Japan, China, and all across Africa, the humans in Britain started consuming more and more. Way beyond what they needed. And invented inventions that would force all of Humanity to consume more and more just to keep up and not fall in war to the British.
We were once the smartest species on the planet. But the smart humans in China and France fell. And the dumb humans of Britain now rule the Planet.
But in the 1960's, as we discovered the new dream of flying in space and learned to dream again, some of us figured out how to be smart humans again. They called us Beatniks, and Hippies. We need to lead the world in consuming less, for that is Humanity's great folly, from which all the other follies flow: consuming too much.
And we can do that in America only if we in America stop being afraid of our own shadow! We can do that in America only if we stop being afraid of everything, and stop listening to bullies like Donald Trump!
If we can't do that in America, than maybe the rest of the world can build a beautiful world without us!
(It would be a shame for America to be left behind... America in the late 20th Century was great! Just look at the work of Jim Henson and Steven Spielberg!)
But at least in the rest of the world, maybe we can lead Humanity to consuming less, to no longer taking more than our share.
Then we can once again become the smartest species on the planet.
It will take a lot of hard work, and it will take time, but it will be worth it.
Then we can have a world like Ming China and the Golden Age of Baghdad again.
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson