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Last week my sister and her husband had a beautiful baby boy.
This isn’t the first time that I’ve become an aunt (shout-out to Dan, Alex, Lili and Anna!) and I know that hundreds of thousands of babies get born every day, but for me (and my family of course) this is a Big Deal.
As it should be. When you break it down, we are nothing but a collection of carbon-based molecules, along with all known life on earth, and yet we have the ability to think and feel and reason and love. One has to marvel at the wonder of life.
Admittedly, the miracle tends to lose a bit of its shine when you’re faced with the cruelty and murder and mayhem that happen with such boring regularity yet mind-boggling inventiveness all over the world.
War, pollution, murder, rape, greed, selfishness, small-mindedness, willful ignorance, cruelty, torture, and so the list goes on.
As a species, we have a lot to answer for.
But, we also have quite a bit to be proud of. We are living in an age where the standard of living has never been higher. Never in recorded history have more people had as much access to nutritious food and water. Life expectancy across the globe is at an all-time high.
Medical science is making breakthroughs in the treatment for everything from cancer to Alzheimer’s disease. I mean, we now even know what the surface of Pluto looks like!
So, instead of focusing on the bad things that can happen in this little guy’s future, I’m going to look towards a future of hope. I refuse to accept that this child will live to see the last polar bear or Bengal tiger or white rhino.
It’s not too late to turn things around. There are brilliant minds who are working tirelessly in their various fields of discipline. People all over the world are fighting the evils of greed and ignorance and hatefulness.
Why not stand up and be counted as one of them?
