Been reading Isaac Asimov's Guide to the Bible, watching the documentary of Guns, Germs and Steel, watching the original "Jane Eyre" (Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine) and listening to the commentaries, particularly the ones that talk about how awful life was for the poor, including children, and thinking about current events around the world and I've come to a conclusion.
Humans suck.
Of course, that's a big generalization. But to call us "civilized" is definitely granting a very loose meaning to that word. I suppose it stands to reason that human history (and, surely, prehistory) has been filled with harshness and barbarity and cruelties. We're descended from animals--we are animals! And baser instincts still guide us today and will continue to do so for a very, very long time to come. Possibly until we manage to annihilate ourselves, although I hope not.
I guess what gives me that hope is the fact that life today is significantly less harsh in at least some parts of the world than it used to be. And there are the glimmers of greater understanding and tolerance and forgiveness and kindness spreading to areas where little of it has been seen before. And these are the things that will save us, I fervently believe.
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