When I write I have a view of a park. All sorts of people visit and take the short walk around the pond.

Today I saw something I wish everyone in the world could have. It’s more priceless than diamonds, gold or platinum. I wish it for young and old, rich and poor.

Four young people came into my view. They had the unmistakable features of Down’s syndrome. Obviously someone brought them to the park on this sunny day.

I turned back to my keyboard but something caught my eye. I paused and watched the young people. The young man in the group had a huge smile on his face and every few steps he would do a little dance. At the same time he waved and twisted his hands.  His simple dance delighted the others.  The joy on all of their faces was obvious.

I wish everyone could have this same experience.

Why is it so difficult for so many people to cast off the weight of the world?  Why can’t we help each other find joy and delight instead of battling to accumulate more than we could ever possibly need?

We all know that humans are exceptional.  As far as we know there are no other forms of life that are as conscious as we are.  One important aspect of humans is that many  have decided not to live with nature but instead they are determined to conquer it.  Amazingly, in spite of setbacks, it seems that scientists and engineers are succeeding in this audacious effort.  As a result the advance of technology appears to be inexorable.  There is no end in sight.  As long as humans get off Earth and successfully colonize other worlds it should continue for a long, long time.

However, even though we appear to have the ability to increase our control of the natural world it is ironic that we show no signs of being able to control ourselves and our fellow humans.  Have we made progress in the way we live together?  After millions of years of evolution we still get angry and fight with each other.  We hurt ourselves and each other in so many ways and on different scales.  Unfortunately I do not see the same trend of progress occurring with regard to our social interactions.  It appears that there is a disconnect between our technology advancement and our progress in improving our minds and societies.

It is odd that we can be so powerful in one arena and helpless in others.  Our ability to develop technology tools may be moot if we do not learn how to live with each other.  I would posit that this is the biggest problem in our world today.