Thought of the day
There is a very prevalent trend in our society today to try to eliminate everything that is perceived as dangerous.
The great problem with this is that everything that is effective is dangerous. This includes people. If something is incapable of being dangerous, it is incapable of being effective enough to be useful. Anything that can be used to create can also be used to destroy; anything that can be used to protect can also be used to harm. Fire, electricity, an axe, a bulldozer, a kitchen knife, a surgeon's scalpel, a chemistry lab, a computer, your hands. All of these things can be used to create and teach and protect, or to harm and destroy. It is not the tool that is responsible for the choice; it is the wielder.
Yet too many of those who "lead" us persist in trying to purge our world of everything that can be used to harm or destroy - partly because they will never understand that they are also purging the world not only of everything that can create or protect, but everything that can teach the next generation to create or protect; partly because they only dimly understand that it is the hand of the wielder, not the tool, that makes the decision whether to create or to destroy, to protect or to harm, and they do not trust anyone, including themselves, to make that decision correctly. And not least, partly because they themselves have already been raised to be afraid of almost everything except the people who are telling them to be afraid.¹
In their fear, they would raise a generation that does not know how to protect; one that knows only how to demand to be protected from everything at any cost. And that generation will be enslaved; because there will always be those eager to take as much control over other people's lives as they possibly can, and then try for a bit more.
In the end, it comes down to this: The Universe is not a safe place, and you cannot make it into one. EVER. Learn to deal with its risks, instead of trying to hide from them; because you cannot hide.
[1] It's ironic, in fact, that the generation that grew up distrusting The Man has grown up to grant The Man more power and authority over their own lives than ever before.
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