I suspect that man will eventually cause himself to become extinct. And, I can think of no other species that has worked harder to do so.

Our excesses are vast and numerous and some that I feel will speed us to our demise are:

Religion:  Everyone seems to have a different concept of their religious doctrine.  If one varies from the other’s interpretation, they deserve to die and suffer eternal agony. God is apparently a friend to all, or he would otherwise intervene to at least stop the atrocities. Some examples are, Jews and Arabs in the Middle East, Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, Islam versus Christian and even church member against church member. The fact is that most of these religions sprang from a common religion but the followers changed their conception of what God wants. With a common belief in only one God, why then don’t we all live in peace and harmony in reference to religious belief?

Money:  Mankind seems to be unable to resist the glitter of gold. Anywhere that assets abound, someone will voraciously and without conscience steal them. Look at the savings and loan fiasco of the ’80s, FEMA theft after catastrophic storms, Ponzi schemes, bankers bundling worthless home-loans to sell to unsuspecting investors, etc. With the ensuing “bail out,” someone will likely steal most of the money and we will repay China and Saudi Arabia throughout our lives.

Unrestrained use of natural resources: Each day our world-wide population is increasing exponentially. Our increasing numbers are depleting our world of fuel, food and fiber and ruining our limited supply of air and water. With only a relatively small portion as arable land, our little planet is running out of room for us to live. We are compelled each day to give money to help hapless, unfortunate children who were born to mothers practicing unbridled birth rates and “dead-beat dads”  neither of which have means to support a family — unbelievable!

Unrestrained social behavior:  Many people think that it is their right to infringe upon the rights of other people. For example, there has been a veritable explosion of sexually transmitted diseases, many of them incurable and deadly. Knowing this, there seems to be no restraint of promiscuity. Many newborns suffer permanent brain damage by their mothers having Herpes II. Due mostly to careless disregard, entire villages have been wiped out by HIV and impending death looms for thousands of others around the globe. Due to their decreased immunity, ultra-resistant germs invade our bodies.

Man is compulsive, hard-headed, and is exceedingly resistant to change. He is excessive in many of his activities, and will die or kill to maintain his beliefs. Our technical name is Homo sapiens meaning “wise man.”  Possibly at some point in future time, after we have all become extinct, intelligent creatures of that age may unearth our fossilized remains. Upon studying our human history, they will probably rename us appropriately, homo stultus — “foolish man.”

Ed Field

Natchez