July 26th, 2021: Just Pondering
On July 20th, 1969, we witnessed a historical event in human history when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon. It confirmed our human ability and accomplishment in space exploration. We applaud such an endeavor because we are amazed by the courage and commitment of these astronauts. They are our space explorers.
What would we do if we discover one day that there are other living creatures on another planet in the galaxy? Would we try to colonize them if they are less developed technologically? Remember that we don't speak their language. They don't look in any way similar to us. What if we have to settle on that new planet because we don't have enough space for everyone on earth? What if they cannot fight us off and we become new settlers there. They don't seem to want to have anything to deal with us. What would be a meaningful approach to understand them and to discover who they are?
New settlers on this new planet have to face some of the very harsh conditions. They have to work very hard to survive. They sometimes perceive the presence of these original dwellers as threats to their safety. So violence happened, and there are casualties from both sides. More space ships arrive with more new settlers. Eventually, their number exceeds the population of the original dwellers.
The new settlers continue to work on improving their lives on this new planet. They make mistakes as well as they make some contributions. The original dwellers feel threatened because they feel as if they are losing their ways of life even though some of the new settlers' approaches will benefit everyone. One of their mistakes is to force the original dwellers to accept their way of life. The original dwellers also make a mistake by continuing to reject the fact things have to change because the settlers are here to stay. They are not just visitors.
How are we going to live together meaningfully? Sometimes we make mistakes out of evil intention. Sometimes we make mistakes because we don't know any better. We apologize to another so that we can move on. We cannot go on apologizing so that we can be held for ransom forever. When we learn how to forgive sincerely, we will learn to embrace one another. We will not talk about the past with condemnation. We refer to it as a lesson we have learned together.
I am grateful for those explorers in the past. Without them, where would we be? I cherish their courage to risk everything to discover new lands while leaving their home. Let us not be too hasty to condemn them and remember that we cannot judge them according to what we know today. After all, we didn't condemn Newton after Einstein challenged Newton's theory of gravity and, therefore, our understanding of the universe since 1687. We accept that as our revolution of knowledge.
Proverbs 18: 15
"An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge."
Colossians 3: 12-15
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
