A “Thank You?” to Scientists

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if some smart little cave boy had not rolled a rock around and invented the wheel. We would not have traveled far, that’s for sure.

The problem is – have we traveled too far?

Yes, we have moved out of our caves and now inhabit a far larger, more extraordinary world.  We have survived the Stone Age, the Iron Age, the Ice Age, the Industrial Age, the Electronic Age, the Space Age and now are caught up in the Internet Age.

Without a doubt, we live with far more creature comforts and are better clothed, housed and fed than our hairy ancestors, but are we any less free from the angst that bedeviled them?  We no longer cower in our caves in fear of attack from a saber-toothed tiger.  How much easier it is now to look at fearsome animals from the safety of a safari vehicle.  We no longer have to trek through forests to hunt for food.  Much easier now it is to phone for Chinese.  Yet, we still may have just as many anxiety attacks as those early humans.  Life was no picnic for them, to be sure.  Simply staying alive was at the top of their worry list. For us, staying alive is also our number one concern.  The trillions of dollars spent on medications attest to this.

Ironically, while the chemical brains on this planet are striving to find more ways to extend our lives, other scientists are searching for more means to snuff out lives as they invent more and more lethal weapons against our enemies. What would happen if all of the scientists worked for the same end?  I am sure that if all of the brilliant minds strove towards helping humanity we might achieve a far happier, more productive world.

There is one huge problem.  How are we ever going to persuade ourselves to love our enemies?  To love them, one must first know who they are. That’s the catch.

We are beginning to know more about our natural enemies: fire, flood, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.  The world’s most remarkable minds are helpless against them. They know the causes but not the solutions.

Human beings, however, should be far easier to cope with. Strange though, how the simplest problems have yet to be solved.  No genius has successfully found the solution to two of our most serious issues:  conquering the common cold and the common cockroach.

They say the cockroach has survived for millennial years. Perhaps if the scientists could track down their secrets of longevity there might be hope for us humans.

Now that’s a goal for them to focus on!