If you don't know this about me, I'm agnostic bordering on atheist, but my grandfather was a Methodist minister. He grappled with ethics and lessons of good and evil both in his role as a religious leader as well as in his job at BU as a professor who taught society and ethics. A few years ago, near the start of the ongoing pandemic, I shared the essence of one of the articles that he would read to my family throughout my childhood and someone in my family has read at the annual gathering each year since his passing. I'd like to share the other and how I have long questioned the wisdom but how I now firmly don't believe it and why.
The article is from WWII and is about the author having recently read something about a conqueror sweeping through Europe. The author was surprised to find that the conqueror was not the current threat but instead Napoleon. He then goes on to explain that the "sign onto you" that God sends the shephards is not something fantastical but something every-day: a babe born in a manger, the most mundane of mundane occurences. He continues but the general idea of the rest is that as long as there are babies being born, it's a sign from God that He still believes in us and that there is always hope.
So here's the thing: it's a wonderful idea... and after a fashion it's sort of true... but it's also blinding. The point of the article is roughly that things don't change in a way that is not reversable and, more generally, that things that threaten us today may seem bad, but they will not be our end. But none of that is true. Things change irreparably. After WWII, we will never return to a world without the threat of nuclear annihilation. And the more we take for granted that things will continue the way they always have, the less we are able to adapt to growing threats.
For example, climate change has been a pressing concern for several decades now. I was well aware of what was coming back in the 1980's already as a young kid. But if we assume the sea levels can't possible rise substantially, that our coastlines and weather patterns are relatively static, then we won't do things to try to avoid that future AND won't do anything to protect ourselves. The longer we are blind to the situation we are in, the harder it will be to do anything meaninful.
For example, climate change has been a pressing concern for several decades now. I was well aware of what was coming back in the 1980's already as a young kid. But if we assume the sea levels can't possible rise substantially, that our coastlines and weather patterns are relatively static, then we won't do things to try to avoid that future AND won't do anything to protect ourselves. The longer we are blind to the situation we are in, the harder it will be to do anything meaninful.
Another good example is COVID-19 (and pandemics in general). Yes, there are scientists researching pandemics generally, and even COVID-19 in specific, but we, as a society, do not appear willing to accept where we find ourselves. COVID-19 has been, and continues to be, a mass disabling event. Many don't know that, many that do don't seem willing to do much about it. We ignore the risks. Collectively, we have decided that we should return to how we lived prior to the start of the pandemic in most ways. And it's true that we have made some good strides toward coping with the initial illness (vaccines, paxlovid) but we do not currently have any treatment for any form of long covid, nor do we have a firm understanding of its different forms, just knowing the symptoms/impacts we have seen. And even the full list of symptoms/impacts are continuing to evolve. But we turn a blind eye to it and say that clean air, masking, and other precautions are too much. Like climate change, we struggle a lot with covid because of lagging indicators and somewhat invisible impacts. I could go on for days, but suffice to say, we have shown that we cannot handle delayed impacts (including multi-day incubation periods) and appreciating invisible connections (like the damaged covid causes to all organs and systems). And like climate change, we have not risen to the challenge that we face and therefore are continuing to cause undo harm to so many and ostracizing those who take reasonable precautions.
Ok, one more example: the current politcal climate in the US. In November 2024, we elected Trump to be President. We knew about Project 2025 which was a playbook for a lot of things, but among them, how to generally wreak havoc in government and get away with it. That playbook drew on fascist principles and strategies. Historians were warning from the early days about what to look for and everything they warned us about came to pass. Courts have provided precious little in the form of pushback, but at least they provided some, where it has been entirely lacking from Congress. The expectation from many is that when Trump leaves office, we'll return to the status quo. The expectation is that what happens elsewhere (transitioning away from a democracy) can't happen here. The reality is something different. The reality is that there is every reason to believe that we either worn't have a 2026 presidential election or that it won't be what we expect it to be. Even if we have such an election, there is every reason to believe that the playbook of the right will be adhered to with even greater competency than it has been in 2025 and that a greater ill will arrive to the US.
I don't have answers. I don't know that anything can be done. And that's the point. What I do know is that it's possible for things to change for the worse and for it to not be recoverable, at least for humankind. I know the world changes. I know that our circumstances change if we feel like things will always be the same, we will not adapt sufficiently (level of response or speed of response or, even more likely given the above 3 current examples, both).
So, it is a lovely sentiment that as long as there are babes, there is hope and there is evidence of God's love, but that line of thinking is somewhat folly. It can easily land you in complacency and the belief that "this crisis shall end and we will inevitably be fine." which is simply not the case.
So, it is a lovely sentiment that as long as there are babes, there is hope and there is evidence of God's love, but that line of thinking is somewhat folly. It can easily land you in complacency and the belief that "this crisis shall end and we will inevitably be fine." which is simply not the case.
The first article still rings true. It is about how the story of Christmas is about more than just good feelings but about struggle and there being real evil in the world. My post about that can be found here: Who Took Herod Out of Christmas
