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IDEA QUESTIONS
Sunday Sept. 6, 2015
Are people and things the same?
All made of atoms, molecules?
Yes.
Everything man ever made (in terms of things), created from harvesting, processing or by manufacturing some ingredient(s) found in nature.
Nature-made ingredients (food, textiles, drugs, chemicals, materials, machines – every bit of them, of this earth). Every human, every mountain or park bench, every book, every desk, every weapon, every shield – from that periodic table of elements, everything is made of those elemental things. Everything bigger than a breadbox, everything smaller too, made of stuff. Even stuffing is made of stuff.
Easily simplified – nature made, and man made.
One glaring exception to this absolute – is the idea.
Any idea.
Even the idea of an idea. Made by human brains. No material. No elements involved. Don’t need a box to hold it or recipe to cook up a batch …
Philosophy, music, literature – belief and disbelief, every disappointment, every pain, each fantasy, all poetry, humanity and inhumanity – each made by man. Kindness. Love. Emotions, not made of anything physical, seem as much a part of this earth as we are.
Excepting all things man flings into space (rockets, satellites, space stations, moon debris), and incoming space-junk (meteors, asteroids, rocket bits and spent satellites), every particle of everything that was ever here, is still here.
Is the same true of non-material creations of man? Is every kindness still here? Is every emotion still here? Is all goodness and badness still here? Is every bit of humanity and inhumanity still here? Is every pain still here?
If we are collectively a zero sum game, can we not find a way to turn bad into good, hate into love, meanness into kindness? Or are we required to fight with someone over something? Is that part of the idea of being human or is it imprinted in our DNA, impossible to eradicate?
We are the most intelligent members of the most intelligent species ever. Surely the smart kids in the labs can turn their attention from creating energy out of sea water and curing climate change to figure out some human-change that makes us all better. Curing cancer is a great effort, but if we can’t cure hate – what’s the point? Solving greenhouse gases may be key to our survival, but where is the human harmony? Where is the peace? And if peace can be sustained, can we eliminate conflict and war?
Finally, if everything is still here …. where’s my hair?
Mark Kolke
written / published from Calgary, AB
morning walk: 3C/38F, rain has slowed to drizzle-chill, quiet streets allowed us to walk a wider paved path without critter sitings; Gusta slightly less soggy today and happy I’m walking steadier and further (ankle still hurts but Tylenol, ice packs and elevating it really helped) …
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