Imaginary World

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.

        ~T.S. Eliot



I can imagine a world occupied by an imagined humanity. In this world we would all be better off. There would be no wars.

We would all be better off without humans contending for their share of life’s essentials. Unfortunately, humans are not born into a world providing for them a lifetime supply of the essentials at no cost.

We would all be better off if all geographies contained natural resources sufficiently abundant to sustain any and all populations of humans we wish to produce. Unfortunately, our globe is a very diverse mix of terrain, climate, flora, and fauna. Location, location and location prove to be three of the most critical aspects of happiness and even survival. Not the only three.

The world would be better off without extreme wills to power. Unfortunately, like all social species, we are naturally and therefore necessarily hierarchical. This order has allowed for our survival as a species. Throughout history, as human populations grew larger, someone had to rise to solve complex problems and help guide the group to decisions on survival and prosperity. There are those that lead and are looked to for leadership. There are those that follow and find comfort or self-preservation in being guided. Extremes of both kinds, leaders and followers, exist.

We would all be better off without a natural tendency to push populations to maximum sustainment levels. Unfortunately, we are an evolved species bound to the same history of all evolved species. Organism survival is first and foremost dependant upon opportunistic reproduction—the “selfish gene” if you will. We are programmed for reproductive success. Propagate your numbers when you can for life is a numbers game. This results in boundary breaches as resources ebb and flow and even run dry.

We would all be better off if each was equally endowed with sufficient initiative to arise each morning, achieve for themselves and family, and endeavor for something better. Unfortunately, some struggle to even arise, others to sustain, and others to improve. Some drive the world forward while others come along for the ride or even apply opposing force.

We would all be better off if we all shared an equal and high intelligence (I think). Understanding one another would be much easier. There would still be squabbles over position based upon experience and perspective, but the long term possibilities of reaching similar positions and desiring similar outcomes would be enhanced.

If only the realities and destinies of mankind were not largely predicated on abilities and resultant behaviors programmed for us long ago by the invisible hand of natural selection. Like the storied beauty pageant contestant, I want world peace. Our unique human brains afford us a glimpse of the imagined and often of the impossible. Our frustration, both understandable and commendable, will continue as some use the evolved brain to consider societies that collections of brains appear incapable of sustaining. Imagination and ideations are liberators of humanity. At the same time, today they have become yet another means to divide us.

My son graduated U.S. Army Infantry Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning in Georgia last week. Unlike such milestone events when I served in the U.S. Air Force, there were some beautiful, tasteful and honorable ceremonies. These new infantry soldiers have just undergone an immersion and transformation most will never appreciate. To use words taken from the graduation ceremony, these are the “better men” brave enough to take action. They do not merely sit in coffee shops and university halls talking ill-informed theory—these are men of action. Better men that understand what makes this the greatest nation ever realized and strong enough to volunteer to preserve what’s best.--during time of war, no less. These men, now more than ever, appreciate what exactly this preservation involves. Over the coming months they know too that they will learn yet more through unimaginable hard work, dedication and sacrifice; perhaps the ultimate sacrifice. My son left this morning for his duty assignment to his unit in Virginia. For him and his fellow soldiers the coming months and years could very possibly present to them the defining moments of their lives. I am a military man myself. I am the son of a military man, he the son of a military man as well. My son is at least the fourth concurrent generation in my family willing to take personal action. I am assured there were more that became young men of action instead of pontificators of rhetoric. For this lineage I could not be more grateful or more proud.

While we would all be better off in an imaginary world not yet realized by carbon based life as we know it, we do not live in such a place. Our reality is one of great achievement and cooperation, but sadly also great differences and conflict. We would all be better off recognizing reality and encouraging our young to serve and protect what is good and right for humanity.