The only thing we have to fear

The greatest and most tragic irony of homo sapiens, by my lights, is that, outside of disease, generally in the form of bacteria and viruses, this most intelligent of species has fended off almost all of other natural predators. Except for itself.

And in the effort by this natural predator to fend off fear of itself, it has made every effort to prove to the rest of its species just how unfraid it is. And to that end, it has made every effort to instill the fear of God into the rest of the species. And the response to that stroke of diplomatic and criminological genius has been for everyone involved to go to great lengths to instill the fear of God into those doing the scaring. To prove just how unfraid they are. And around and around they go. Leaving death and destruction in their wake for as long as they have inhabited the earth.

And the most profound irony of this long and fruitless exercise in overpowering all those sources of fear, of which human beings are, collectively, the sole responsible source, is that, at the bottom of all of this mindless posturing is, in fact, a deep and profound fear. Of one another. Of themselves. And of everything that might challenge their ability to overpower that fear and all its sources. All while multiplying all of the fear meant to be overpowered. Meaning, the efforts to overpower their fear and the sources of their fear have made them less safe and more afraid, not more safe and less afraid. And the added fear thus becomes justification for renewed efforts to start down the same road all over again.

Fear that none of us actually have, mind you. That was the whole point, remember. To prove how unfraid we are. In fact, that is the point of every player in the endless manipulations of power. To master the sources of our fear. To prove that we are not afraid.

So unfraid, that we obsess endlessly about how to build up the caches of power, leverage, and weaponry we can manage to prove just how unfraid we are.

This has been the long, tragic, murderous, and oppressive length of human history.

And now, they claim, the source of our progress. Or so says the they who claim progress as their political mantle. As it has always been. No matter who carried that mantle.

It is not a new logic. This logic of intimidation and aggression to get one's way. It's as old as hominid species have walked the earth. It's as old as predation itself. It is, in fact, the logic of predation.

And the question homo sapiens need to ask themselves, today, is, "Is this what the future holds?"

Powerful and powerless. Master and slave. Predator and prey.

Is that it how humanity improves itself?

By overpowering one another.

Because if that is what we believe, it has been tried.

With much death and destruction left in its wake.

Perhaps our capacity for overpowering will be for good cause, this time.

Because that could not possibly be what every other group who ever aspired for power believed. They all must have thought they were using it for the purposes of evil. We, alone, will use it for the purposes of good. And finally right will be wedded to might.

This logic of predation and intimidation has been with us since the beginning of human existence and the existence of our hominid brethren.

Perhaps, this time, finally, it will yield the progress that we so desperately seek from it. Perhaps, this time, our overpowering will finally yield the hope of a better tomorrow. And not the tragedy that it has yielded since our earliest existence.

And when it does not, we can lament amongst ourselves about how there is no better tomorrow. And how there is nothing that can be done anyway.

For it could not be our failure. It could only be the failure of our enemies. Or our foolish neighbors. Or our children. Or anyone who is not us.

For we are a brave species. We do not fail. And we most certainly do not admit our failure. Because to do so would be to show our weakness. And show disloyalty to our courage. The courage to continue down a path even when it leads to nowhere.

To continue despite disappointment is a sign of courage. To admit failure is to betray cowardice.

And thus begins the long series of lies that animates power and its obsession. And always has.

All because we are unfraid. And bound and determined to prove just how unfraid we are.

A species that has, otherwise, outside of disease, fended off every other natural predator it has faced.

This most intelligent of all species, or so it says, is finally only preyed upon by the most deadly of all its sins. It's own pride. It's own incapacity to recognize when it's instincts for predation and aggression have failed it many times over.

All because doing so would be to admit the very fear that it claims to not harbor.

The only thing we have to fear. Or so they say.

Or maybe what they should say is that progress only comes with just enough of the only thing we have to fear.

Perhaps that's what that revered American President meant.

Perhaps, this time, instilling the only thing we have to fear will prove once and for all just how unfraid we are.