The saying, “May you live in interesting times,” has often been attributed to Robert Kennedy, who referred to it as an “ancient Chinese curse.” The saying has an extensive history. (See “Quote Investigator” for details.) Regardless of the saying’s history, war, rumors of war, and civil unrest are more “interesting” than times of peace and prosperity. At present (April 2019), we have a lot of civil unrest, not only in the States, but also in many places around the world. We also have wars (and rumors of wars) in many parts of the world. In fact, we have pretty much everything the Christian Bible and many other religions associate with the End of Times. Regardless of whether you ascribe to one (or more) of the religious traditions that give credence to the concept of the “end of times,” it’s easy to see that “things aren’t what they used to be.” Or perhaps they are….
The world has, of course, been through some “rough patches” before, including two world wars and numerous other wars along the way, including (for those of us in the States) the Korean War and the War in Vietnam. My father fought in WWII, and many of my relatives fought in Korea. I was in Vietnam. It is difficult to track the wars and military conflicts since Vietnam. War, in fact, may be endemic to the human condition. Since primitive times, “tribes” of individuals have gone to war when they encountered other tribes. It seems as though humanity has gone from one “interesting time” to another. And it doesn’t look as though that will change any time soon.
As a “child” who came of age during the Vietnam War years, I was influence by the music of the age, which tended to emphasize peace, love, and brotherhood.
In spite of a promising start, it didn’t work out that way. The end of the US involvement in Vietnam did not put an end to wars (and rumors of wars). Although we (in the States) haven’t had another major military conflict since, we have certainly had numerous (and a wide variety) of smaller-scale conflicts. Has there ever been a time when humans could live peacefully? I can’t think of one. There may have been short periods where a small number of people could live in peace and harmony, but those haven’t made the history books.
Author Steven Pinker has said that we are living in history’s most peaceful time. Others replied, “not so fast.” We may have to come to terms with human aggression and tendencies toward violence. In some ways, organized sports (especially, perhaps, football) were intended to serve as a modern substitute for the gladiator battles of olden times. It’s hard to tell whether Pinker is correct, and that has been increasingly true since the last election in the States. Since the election, some the elected officials have been saying we should “beat the crap” out of those who hold different views. That is, however, not much different from the wars between the English and the French, or the English and the Irish, or the English and the Scotts. Going a bit farther back in history, the Romans beat the crap out of just about everybody. China did not build The Great Wall to serve as a tourist attraction. Japan also has a history of warfare. The list of conflicts in Africa is also extensive.
Somebody always wants to beat the crap out of someone else. Conflict seems to be normal for the human condition. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, posits a society in which everyone is kept happy by genetic manipulation and drugs, but that turns out to be a less-than-wonderful solution to the age-old problem of human conflict. The Biblical metaphor is the story of Cain and Abel, Jealousy leads one brother to kill the other. The metaphor may be true for conflict between nation states and political factions as well. It is hard to foresee a time in which different “tribes” of people can get along and live in peace and harmony. The growth in world population is out of control, and the increasing numbers make conflict inevitable.
I do not have a solution to propose, but I am hoping that someone will come up with a brilliant idea that isn’t based on exterminating most of humanity so that the rest of us can live in peace and harmony. Even if we did, would we have learned enough to live in peace and harmony? Would those who remained simply start the process of population growth and exploration and territorial wars all over? And the thought has occurred to me more than once: What if this isn’t our first time through the process of population growth and territorial conflicts. Perhaps humanity as a whole has a life cycle of starting small and expanding as space permits. We are indeed living in interesting times.
