I figure there is a duality in mankind where we are split between our evolutionary roots and our idealistic aspirations. Intellectually we operate on higher order concepts, while emotionally we let our impulses drive us forward.
That is a fancy way of saying we are caught half way between being animals and being civilized. Evolution is an on-going progress, and there is still a long road yet to travel.
Something that I always keep in the back of my mind, as I watch the news.
We see then, on rare occasions, examples of people at their finest. Individuals or groups that have applied their intelligence towards constructive efforts to make the world a better place. Always inspirational, but all too infrequent.
More often we see those that have fallen from our current heights. Setting aside over 10,000 years of civilized behavior they let their base impulses drive them towards acts of madness. Often they can't even see what they have become. What they have been reduced to.
Sadly, if your thinking that I am only referring to those poor souls in war-torn countries, or other regions that have clearly descended into hell, there are also examples coming from places where people feel they have risen above all of that. In the heart of civilization, come horrendous examples of terror, selfishness, or greed that easily rival those of the most burnt out infested wreck of a place.
We can rise up all we want, pretending to be civilized, but there are always aspects of our evolutionary roots that will pull us back down to being animals.
It is a race between our evolving into something sustainable or the animals amongst us tearing it all down because they don't understand it. Oddly, we have the most to fear from the smarter ones, who think they get it.
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