Our Future - Where Angels Fear to Tread

When I was an Assistant Superintendent for Instruction in one of the larger city schools in Ohio (way back in the early `80's) it was quite common  for consultants and universities to schedule workshops and even offer courses that purported to tell we "leaders in Education" what was coming down the road for the future.  I attended a couple of them and even had an "futures expert" I'd met at one of them come to our school system for an day-long "workshop" for our teachers.  (Which they probably resented mightily.)

I really don't remember much of what the guru's were predicting.  The only thing I do remember is that we would be moving into what they called "The Information Age."  That part of their crystal-balling seems to have been accurate.  The exchange of information, both volume and speed, of today is as far different from what we had in the 1980's as Henry Ford's Model "T" is from a NASCAR automobile.   What they didn't predict is the social devolution. (I won't call it either a "revolution" or "evolution.") that came marching alongside the information technology.  No one was predicting the level of violence we now live with; they weren't predicting how much human tissue that once was a child in a mother's womb ends up in a landfill somewhere and is accepted so cavalierly today.  There are many other aspects and truths of our current world that no one predicted. 

I think the one thing that we can predict is that human society is going to go along about like it has since Adam and Eve decided "You can never have enough knowledge."  Then, because they had to eke out their living by the sweat of their brow "Man" used his knowledge to invent tools - a good thing, right?  Sure, until Cain used a tool he invented to kill Abel.  Since being kicked out of The Garden of Eden "Man" has simply never been able to resist using the same knowledge that eradicated polio to create Sarin, nuclear bombs, and host of other ways to take a good thing and use it in a bad way.  "Man" has taken God's commandment for us individually to be charitable and revised it; making it a secular command ordering our government to be charitable and relieve us of that burden.

So, my prediction is that "Man" will keep right on slouching down that same path he has since leaving "The Garden."   I predict that "Man" will find ways to make our lives easier and even more "fun" but "Man" can and will find ways to use his knowledge and unwillingness to battle the same evil that seduced Eve to make new things and then, in part, use them to make a world that is even more chaotic and self-serving than it is today.   Nothing God creates is evil but God does permit man to use his creations for evil purposes and, as Lady MacBeth said, "Aye, there's the rub."

My greatest and only prediction that I unashamedly and surely know will come true is:  "We know how all this will end."  Ultimately where there is chaos there will be peace, where there is shrillness there will be harmony,  where there is cruelty there will be justice, and where there is true repentance for our human weakness there will be mercy.  Those things I can predict with 100% sureness they will come about.

We will be young forever... a photo from the 1940s...
Exotic Planted Teak Outnumbers The Most Important ...
 

Comments 6

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Tom Cormier (website) on Tuesday, 27 March 2012 23:38

Now there's some wisdom!! Great to read this Don. You are special.

Now there's some wisdom!! Great to read this Don. You are special.
Millard Don Carriker (website) on Wednesday, 28 March 2012 02:55

I appreciate your kindness, Tom. You know, when you see a pickup truck sitting in WalMart's parking lot with mud in its wheel wells, a dent or two in the tailgate, a windshield dirty except where the wipers have cleaned it, and a body that looks like it's been knocked around a bit, you know that truck has spent time getting into and out of some hard places. Same thing is true of most people. Every "dent, every "clod of mud" and "every speck of dust and streaked dirt on our windshields" means that person has spent time doing the same thing as that pickup truck. But by the time we learn what's needed to get into and out of those places the only thing we can do with what we've learned is try to pass it on. Occasionally some of it does get passed on.

I appreciate your kindness, Tom. You know, when you see a pickup truck sitting in WalMart's parking lot with mud in its wheel wells, a dent or two in the tailgate, a windshield dirty except where the wipers have cleaned it, and a body that looks like it's been knocked around a bit, you know that truck has spent time getting into and out of some hard places. Same thing is true of most people. Every "dent, every "clod of mud" and "every speck of dust and streaked dirt on our windshields" means that person has spent time doing the same thing as that pickup truck. But by the time we learn what's needed to get into and out of those places the only thing we can do with what we've learned is try to pass it on. Occasionally some of it does get passed on.
Golden V. Adams Jr. (website) on Thursday, 29 March 2012 19:41

Don, you have such an amazing way of telling a story that moves one to think of his/her own wisdom! And, of course, that comes from the experiences of our lives. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could use this wisdom in such a way that some of the unpleasant experiences we have lived could have been learned in an easier way--relying on the experience of others? I agree, your predictions are absolute!

Don, you have such an amazing way of telling a story that moves one to think of his/her own wisdom! And, of course, that comes from the experiences of our lives. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could use this wisdom in such a way that some of the unpleasant experiences we have lived could have been learned in an easier way--relying on the experience of others? I agree, your predictions are absolute!
Millard Don Carriker (website) on Friday, 30 March 2012 03:13

Thanks for the compliment Golden. Everyone has a gift for one thing or another. In all humility I know that God has given me a gift for writing. (I'm told that true humility means knowing and accepting oneself with all one's "goods" and "bads.")

Thanks for the compliment Golden. Everyone has a gift for one thing or another. In all humility I know that God has given me a gift for writing. (I'm told that true humility means knowing and accepting oneself with all one's "goods" and "bads.")
Heirlooms To Go Ltd (website) on Thursday, 29 March 2012 22:51

Bravo, Don. I couldn't agree more with what you said. Luckily for us, the ultimate end of the story (His-story) is much, MUCH better, right?

Bravo, Don. I couldn't agree more with what you said. Luckily for us, the ultimate end of the story (His-story) is much, MUCH better, right?
Millard Don Carriker (website) on Friday, 30 March 2012 00:11

The end of the story is to die for (literally). The frightening part is that we will likely have to endure a lot of hardship,terror, and likely pain before we get to that blessed end.

The end of the story is to die for (literally). The frightening part is that we will likely have to endure a lot of hardship,terror, and likely pain before we get to that blessed end.