as mentioned in my poem , "We are the watchers" and vaguely in "the rise and fall of ether soup", there are those who realize the insanity and pull back, ready to go when called....and the lost will destroy themselves, clearing the way for only the godly to exist
(and by godly, I don't mean religious)

sad but true....

Time for the elven ship to sail to the undying lands....whether you hop aboard or not is up to you.

Dear Ed, particularly to anyone who, like yourself, devotes the best of his time, emotions and energies to the noble and compassionate service of other beings – service meaning helping, sympathizing, working for their welfare, bringing relief to their suffering, simply being there with them when no one else can or wants to be – it is inevitable to reach, at some point, a mental and emotional “crossroads” of doubt, of skepticism, of hopelessness, even of despondency. No matter what one may do or try to do, suffering seems to be endless, violence seems to grow instead of diminishing, carelessness seems to overrun all logical concerns – or that should be logical – selfishness seems to increasingly replace generosity, and awareness may even be sensed like a most tremendous burden, sometimes threatening to make one wish one could be as oblivious – deliberately or not – to all those realities which bother, upset, hurt, stress, despair, as many seem to be able to be. Some will, under the sometimes unbearable weight of such burden, just give up, some will, albeit painfully, go on doing what they believe may be too little, but is, still, better than doing nothing.

On the other hand, anyone who, again like yourself, is a keen observer of Nature – including the intrinsic nature of all living beings, and, of course, of the human being – and who is also a keen student of History, will, again inevitably, identify many of the signs which you are so painfully aware of now, of a global rush towards destruction: A global “path” which has been walked and walked again, in the past, and which seems to be preferably walked upon, again and again, through all times. Probably more than anyone else, a keen observer of Nature and a keen student of History, will identify common traits, common denominators at the foundation of such “rush”, which seems to make no sense, if one thinks of those common denominators: The almost endless ramifications of the most basic of instincts – Survival. To survive, any being needs basic elements, such as nutrition, space, and shelter, and again, the ramifications of these fundamental elements are almost endless, according to the biological diversity among all living beings. Yes, it makes indeed no sense… to destroy in order to survive, to basically “kill” in order to “live”. But a keen observer of Nature and keen student of History, knows that this apparent lack of sense may, indeed, make a lot of sense – which, on the other hand, doesn’t make it axiomatically or entirely GOOD. In fact, as it has happened at many stages in the past, this “senseless sense” will indeed lead, ultimately, to the END, at a smaller or greater scale, of that which ALL were, after all, basically striving for – LIFE. But… a keen observer of Nature knows that LIFE in itself has no END; it goes on, it continues, maybe in different forms, maybe within different substances, maybe subject to unfathomable mutations of its essence, maybe beyond the scope of what we presently understand as LIFE, but it will not cease to BE. And a keen student of History knows that the END has come many times – the END of “times” such as we knew “them”, the END of “our time” such as we perceive it and ourselves within it. Maybe LIFE as we know it, maybe TIME as we perceive ourselves within it is coming to an END, maybe we can’t envision an alternative to perpetuate LIFE and TIME as we understand them; Maybe some of us “dream” of “transferring” LIFE and TIME as we conceive them and ourselves within them, SOMEWHERE ELSE. But there is no SOMEWHERE ELSE where LIFE and TIME as we conceive them can be replicated as we know them.

What to do, then? Not an easy answer, and not one that, in my humility, I may even dare to start proposing. But also in my humility, I dare offering this, dearest friend: Let those, like yourself, who are aware that this LIFE will END but not LIFE in itself, that this TIME will END but not TIME in itself, not give up on doing, while they are still here, within the scope of this life and this time, all those noble and compassionate things that are of service to all beings: Helping, sympathizing, working for their welfare, bringing relief to their suffering, simply being there with them when no else can or wants to be. It may be too little, it may not seem to make any difference – but someone like yourself, who wrote a marvelous poem called “One (neighbor) at a time”, knows, probably better than anyone else, that too little is better than nothing at all, and one is better than none… because it – what you’ve done – has made a difference to that one’s LIFE at that moment of that one’s TIME.

May you forgive me for such a long dissertation, my friend. Much, much Love&Light* to you.

Alexandra*

You speak the Truth herein, Ed. Another very fine piece of work.
Peace and Blessings,
Carolyn

I am afraid that even in a new world man will repeat his actions. We all seem to need power in one way or another, it is even one of the major reasons marriages fail. You are right on the money when you say that every person must seek peace or it will never happen. Somehow, I don't see it happening in our lifetime, but I hold on tightly to the hope that it will happen sometime soon.
Take care,
Sherry

So many good comments Ed but one thing was left out--the killing of the baby in the womb--There was a march for life this day by Catholics. How many people watched this? If you didn't you missed an important solution. The killing starts here--it starts with sin. All life was created by God to reproduce itself. God gave man an incinative for this and we all know how. It starts with the sin of selfishness. No one wants to die - it would be unrealstic. All want to survive. That is reality. Jesus came to show us how. He said turning the other cheek was the answer. Not to defend yourself by anger for hate starts in the heart and in the mind so perish the thought and forgive. Easy, no, for to love your neighbor is to love God in him--it is truly devine. But there is hope--out of l400 facilities for abortions 700 closed their doors. Those who believe in LIFE have not given up. Soo...continue with what you do and we poets will all have a hand in saving the world. Certainly God will recognize our efforts. He is still in Control.

Painful look at the reality of our world!!

Love TinkY

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
We know more about war than we know about peace,
More about killing, than we know about living.”
Omar N. Bradley

So, so true. Then why don't we educate people in the ways of living in peace?

Because there is no profit in peace ... profit is found in the ways of war. For example, what would be the future of Halliburton if it were not assigned to the "rebuilding" of Iraq"? Well, some might call that the "creation of jobs". Yes, we justify destruction of a land in order to "rebuild" it. How absurd. Even if "rebuilding" were the true intention after destroying this land, why were other contractors not even considered, even though their bid to do so would have been at a much reduced cost?

What monitary profit can be gained by pursuing peace efforts? What in the world would all the weapon builders do? If the world were at peace, they would have no justification for their existence. All of the major "civilized" countries spend more on defence (weapons for destruction) than they do on anything else, even the things that really matter to the well-being of humankind as a whole. Now, the "uncivilized" countries are following suit (they have to, right?) and ignoring the needs of humanity for the sole purpose of bringing themselves to that same brink of destruction. Can we blame them? No, they honestly believe that they need to follow the same path of destruction (absurd as it is) in order to survive.

And the UN "Security" Council? They are the "watchdogs" for what? To proclaim that some (they) have the right to possess these weapons of mass destruction while others (who they so name) do not?

Some advocate (and actually explore) the idea of escaping to another planet. This is NOT the answer. In order to survive as a species, we need to expend our efforts and resources (all of them) on resolving the problems we face as a society, right here on earth. We cannot escape our problems by traveling to another planet. These unresolved problems will, most definitely, follow us there. We will still destroy the planet we live on and it will only be another place from which we can conduct our wars which proclaim that some lives have more value than others.

For example, what is the difference in a suicide bomber taking the lives of innocent people and a guided missle taking the same number of innocent lives? Please do not misunderstand, I do not advocate either position but I do not believe we can condemn one while pursuing the other. ALL LIVES ARE SACRED. No one can justify these murderous crimes on either "side".

I am a simple man and these are just my simple thoughts on this subject.

I do believe in Hope and Dream and Love ... and I believe that these can carry us beyond the limitations that we, so often, place upon ourselves.

There is so much more I could write about this, Ed. But, for now, I am exhausted. Please forgive me. Thank You for making me think.

Love & Light,
Joseph

this indeed shows the darker thoughts and traits of mankind. You have exprienced a lot of it lately in your work. However; you and many others are bringing light to darkness, and this is how the above will change to a brighter ending. :-)

thought provoking

Very strong and even scary, but, we are sure that you have not forgotten the brighter sides of the world, since you so well point out 'Unless every living soul on this earth Soon bands together and advocates peace The orbiting planet we humans call home May soon not be fit for insect man or beast' there is still hope...
Birgit and Roger

A powerful and painful look at our society.
It's really sad isn't it? I'll have to take a look
at Peter's Sojurn to Mars.

You took a deep disturbing look at what we are facing Ed and put it into a superb poetic piece!I can't disagree with your premise. Only that this was all foretold when God said everything He made was good, but man kept evil in his heart, and that is our undoing. The only way it could have been different is if god had taken away our choice.That of course would have made us robots, not free to choose to love Him but forced to do it. So He gave us the ability to live love and be happy, but our free will gave some the means to destroy that happiness with their hearts that turned to evil instead of good.

Eileen

Powerful, terrifying truths in your words Ed!
love and peace...

Carole

terrifying write, but so very real. we must take heed to god's warnings!! well done, ed!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in tx., karen lynn. :(

torturous truth, and necessary for each of us to heed. I've just come from Peter's #2. it seems the time draws near, or is already here, for each of us to decide in our hearts that we will live from an ethical center from which radiates the hope of our planet. if we find ways to join our hearts, those rays of promise may be enough, when blessed by our Creator, to make some change. Dawn

There will be wars and rumors of wars until the end of mankind which may be sooner than we think.

This is truly wonderful and inspiring Ed, and you have gratefully taken a leaf out of my book, to act as a bell ringer and catalyst for
sanity and brotherhood to prevail in these cataclysmic times.
Yes, you are right Ed, it all stems from Cain's wanton slaying of his own brother Abel until today, as we approach the End Times !
A wonderful prelude and shocking picture highlights and enhances this
must read post !
TY
Peter

Funny or not so, that you are not the only one that has put forth this subject to me of late, or at least a version of the same...I think, from what I have been suffering of late, they may be using biological weapons already, or at least testing them in small quantities...oh well its one way to lose weight...Ed

very well done, my friends some real food for thought. i have often wanted to colonize another planet!