My small friend Danny, grown two and a half feet tall, stood face to face with the TV, viewing a video of "Winnie the Pooh,'' which he had seen several times in his short past. As the movie progressed, Pooh consumes every sticky lick of honey in the house. Pooh's body expanded, as bodies do, and Dan knowingly, in anticipation, was waiting for the inevitable moment. The time arrived. It happened! The rear of Pooh's pants split open. Dan just nodded his little head, as if his inner parent could have warned the bear about his uncontrolled appetite. The unspoken words were, "You're gonna' go too far! There will be consequences!" And so there were. Just as anyone could have predicted. Even a little boy could fathom: actions have consequences and you can count on it. Many events have predictable outcomes, don't you agree? Would that the results of all human ill-planned progress were as innocent as a tear or two in the pants. On the way to learning, humanity has made some pretty big mistakes. God forgive us. If we were to stand in front of our televisions, like Danny, and really look at the evidence: extreme weather patterns, the disappearance of animal and plant species, the increased "carbon footprints," the many reports by scientists telling us how we are wasting our world, couldn't we, too, nod our heads, as if we should have known what was going to happen? We can do better than that! We can "anticipate" and take steps now, so that Danny and all the children of the world will have a place to live in that is at least as wonderful as ours. I think it may be greed that oils the cogs of our "progress machine." Consider the distribution of wealth. How can there be more and more millionaires and billionaires in the world when poverty and hunger are rising? The chasm is widening, and the middle class is struggling to survive. Can we create and enforce laws without loopholes, laws that would limit individuals' wealth? Would that help the situation?
I am reminded of these words by Peter Maurin: The world would be better off For when everyone tries to become better off Everyone would be rich And everybody would be what they ought to be It helps if we adults watch more intently. We can help increase awareness and elect the right people to public offices, people who care. "Anticipation: Can We Live the Future?" by Anita Swansen, OSM. |
