Dancing On The Crumbling Precipice

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by James Quinn

“Dancing on the crumbling precipice


The rocks are coming loose just at the edge


Are we laughing? Are we crying?


Are we drowning? Are we dead?


Or is it all a dream?

The bombs are getting closer everyday


“That can never happen here” we used to say


Have these wars come to our doorstep?


Has this moment finally come?


Or is it all a dream?”

Rise Against, “The Violence”

“This recent song by Rise Against, inspired by the turmoil since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, captures the feeling of angst and uncertainty engulfing the world today. This Fourth Turning is entering its most violent stage, where blood will be spilled in vast quantities as an epic conflict between good and evil plays out across the globe. Eighty years ago, the bloodiest conflict in human history began, as the social mood turned dark and compromise was no longer a viable option.

It wasn’t a coincidence World War II began exactly eighty years after the onset of the American Civil War, which began as compromisers died off and hearts hardened on both sides. We are now eighty years gone since the outset of World War II and a global mood of impending doom overshadows our daily lives. The inevitability of conflict, domestically and internationally, eclipses all efforts to bridge the ideological differences of competing interests around the world. The cycles of history will not be denied and this Fourth Turning will play out as those before, with clear victors and clear losers.

Tim McIlrath, the lead singer of Rise Against, observing the violent conflict raging in our country in the press, social media, in the streets, and on battlefields across the Middle East wondered whether violence is an inevitability of the human condition, or whether we can make a choice to reject it. In an interview with Kerrang!, McIlrath stated: “As we were watching the news and seeing all the different things [unfold] around the planet, I realized that violence has such a role in a lot of what we see when the world is falling apart. The violence is a reflection of whether our [aggression] is in our nature, our DNA, or whether we have a choice to be part of it. And it is a choice that we make – a conscious one – to use violence as a means to an end. Aren’t we better than this? Aren’t we the apex of the animal kingdom? Aren’t we the only ones on the planet that have the capacity for compassion? Aren’t we good enough or brave enough to not sink to violence?”

I hate to break the bad news to Tim, but human nature never changes. We aren’t better or worse than the billions of people who have proceeded us on this earth. We are all susceptible to the vices which have plagued mankind for eternity: pride, greed, anger, envy, lust, gluttony and laziness. We are also capable of elevating our society through exercising displays of courage, applying justice fairly, prudently managing our affairs, treating others with respect, and acting charitably towards mankind.

As Solzhenitsyn noted in his masterpiece, “Gulag Archipelago”, “the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being”. The violence in our nature is ingrained in our makeup as human beings…” 

Please view the rest of this excellent article here:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/