Life on earth for humanity has been a tough row to hoe, at least up until the last few generations when we have finally conquered enough natural science to make our lives much easier.

Even Ben Franklin would be amazed to see how far we’ve come in such a short time. Is that going to continue, till future people look back upon us as primitive, the way we look back on our ancestors? I think that will be true in years to come. We humans like to think of ourselves as being creatures superior to other animals.

I also think we are, based on the fact of our intelligence, which gives us cause for an entirely different life style than other creatures. We have an ability to understand and manipulate our environment far beyond that of any other creature on this earth. There is a world of difference between that large herd of wildebeest on the Serengeti, and the large assemblage (herd?) of homes and streets that make up our cities. I have often pondered on the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and why they were forbidden to eat from the tree giving the knowledge of good and evil. Isn’t knowledge a good thing? Isn’t that actually what makes us superior to other beasts?

My attempts to rationalize why the tree of knowledge was not necessarily the best tree to eat of, has left me with the thought that man’s search for knowledge to thereby complete himself, independent of anything or anyone else, has been the basis of a gravitation towards atheism today.

We tend to feel more and more that we have won that independence and are finally approaching our control of the world, with the rest of universal creation to follow. We are finally getting smart enough to become hoodwinked into thinking we know a lot more than we actually do. We are indeed close to commanding the world, but shamefully no closer than people in the middle ages to commanding our own selves. Therein lies the rub. Our biggest task, ourselves, lies before us.

It may have been generally accepted as an especially male characteristic to want to prove themselves as independent, and able to carry their own weight in whatever circumstance. It is sometimes, in some circles, even seen as the ultimate male characteristic.

In recent years, however, many women may be vibrating on that same wavelength. Perhaps a male grizzly bear in the forests of Alaska, or a male lion on the Serengeti of Africa may live a completely independent life, but he doesn’t know any better, or really have any other choice. Humanity needs its individuals to cooperate if they wish to survive. No man or woman has ever lived a solitary, independent life which has fulfilled their ultimate destiny.

You know Frank Sinatra made a lot of hay with his song, “I did it my way.” It gives the idea of being your own man, independent and free. I suppose there were many who thought that to be his keynote song of accomplishment. Actually, I believe it is a glamorously, unrealistic fiction for any but a ruthless millionaire, or an empire dictator, and neither lives a truly happy life befitting a normal human.

Whether we like it, or know it, or not, we are a civilization of humanity, which depends more than we realize on one another for survival. Not just day to day, but through the centuries, to eventually become the civilization, that we have been destined to reach. We will not reach it however by constantly trying to get a leg up on our companions, but only thorough the cooperation between ourselves, and our mutual appreciation of our fellow humans, and their various but much needed contributions to the soup that nourishes our destiny.

None of us are, or can afford to be, completely independent from our peers, without becoming an impediment to progress. May God bless America.