New Year's Resolution

I watched a movie last night that was set in Civil War times. It was, of course, just fiction meant for entertainment, but it was gripping. The setting was dark and cold and overwhelmingly painful. Back then even the smallest wound might cause death. Medicine was very primitive and infection might kill you even if you survived the initial wound. Take off a limb to save your life and die a few days later because it wont heal. Scary. We've come so far.

But the real impression I was left with from this movie was man's inhumanity to man. People killing each other just to hear the sound of the gun or the clink of the sword. Itchy trigger fingers. I know that in Civil war times living only a few miles from a friend or family member could make you a member of a rival team, and many people had to draw an imaginary line in the sand and kill those on the other side of it. Brother against brother. Death.

So why are we told that today's children are meaner. We don't look any meaner. Why are we stunned when a "gang member" shoots a convience clerk. "They just seemed to have no value for human life" the witness tells the television camera. "Animals." This wouldn't have happened in my day, I don't know what the world is coming to.

Well I say we are no meaner than we've ever been. We've acted like this for centuries. We are just visible. Not very long ago at all we came to America to be free, but enslaved a group of people that looked a little different to do the real work. And yes, we killed them if they got out of line. Imagine, if you can, the Sixty Minutes news crew at a cotton plantation in the 1800's. The shocking interviews you would see every night for weeks. Rape, murder, theft. It would make modern tragedies look like a soccer game. We would look like animals. We would eat dinner in front of the television and wonder what the world is coming to.

So as we make our New Year's resolutions to drop those five extra pounds or not have that drink after work everyday, as we declare to spend more time with or families and less time at work let's think about what is really important. Tolerance. How we treat each other. How we want to be treated. The value in us all. Happy New Year.