July 5, 2003
We may be the children of this country, but we’re also its parents.I’m reminded, not for the first time, of an observation made by Teresa eight years ago:If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a parent, it’s that it’s worth the effort to raise a child you can live with, because you’re going to have to live with the child you raise.
My own personal theory is that this is the very dawn of the world. We’re hardly more than an eyeblink away from the fall of Troy, and scarcely an interglaciation removed from the Altamira cave painters. We live in extremely interesting ancient times.Or, to put it another way, “Work like you were living in the early days of a better nation.” [03:25 PM]I like this idea. It encourages us to be earnest and ingenious and brave, as befits ancestral peoples; but keeps us from deciding that because we don’t know all the answers, they must be unknowable and thus unprofitable to pursue.
Thank you for the reminder that we are living in primative times. That explains a lot.
julia's essay is moving. i mentioned it on my blog for my tribute to independence day. she said it so much better than i could...
"My own personal theory is that this is the very dawn of the world."
Word!
Think for a moment, though, over what is implied when you assume the opposite: That we are in the "End Times" or some-such rot.
I think the Administration has bought into that very notion. If not literally, then practically.
Thus, avoiding the short-term economic hit of reducing CO2 emissions is more important than preventing long-term environmental degredation through global warming.
Thus, insisting that your own officers and officials can do any damn thing they want without legal consequences takes precedence over establishing the rule of law.
". . . a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires . . ."
Isn't that just the greatest? Instead of beginning with a fiery, resentful rant, the Declaration starts off by admitting that the authors know what they're doing is rash, that they respect the opinion of the world, and that they *need to explain* why they are doing what they are doing.
In the interests of providing some good cheer, for those who haven't heard, the unpossible Michael Savage has been axed from his MSNBC talk show.
Ahh. It *is* a better nation.
The idea that we are living at the dawn of an age that promises to stretch out ahead of us is hopeful and helpful -- but not, I fear, persuasive.
It seems much more likely to me that we are in the downward spiral of an evolutionary dead end. How can the behaviors of our species suggest a long, progressive future?
I chose to live and work and hope in the sprit espoused by Patrick and Teresa -- bless them -- but in the coldest light, my intellect often doesn't support it.
> How can the behaviors of our species suggest a
> long, progressive future?
Because we have nowhere to go but up.
Hard-Hitting Moderator: Teresa Nielsen Hayden.
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