Come On, Industrial Powers, It's Only Right

I've always been a believer in the goodness of men, that men everywhere have within them that special something, call it something nebulous but very present. Goodness? Would that be a good word for it, what I believe men have?

This of course makes me naturally a very optimistic person, someone who always expects and tends to think the glass will be completely full one day. And this I see as being true for each and every man, that when the final tally is reckoned, with the final score is posted, we'll all be winners, every man a winner.

But being optimistic, that doesn't mean I can't see the other side. When it comes to optimism we have the full history of man hitherto to date, at least what we know of man's history since the time he began keeping records. A lot of the records were lost back in caveman days simply because they didn't have dehumidifiers and all the files rotted. It was the Egyptians who perfected a climate dry enough that dehumidifiers were rendered unnecessary. Warmer, drier air flowed forth then to every man, giving us enough records with which to draw definite conclusions.

Among our conclusions, like I said refuting optimism, we have man's history as being Man vs. Man for the full extent of it. Man has never found a way to get along with his brother. Having once committed fratricide, he kept right on committing it, to the point that nearly everyone died. In those days if you were an only child, there was a very good reason for it.

Then we have the sacred writers writing of man's heart being wicked above all things (Jer. 17). They inform us of ever increasing sin, both original and knock off sins. Cain and Abel got the whole fratricide ball rolling. And from there it all went downhill. There really is no reason to be optimistic about man, according to these well placed authorities. The great history of wars since then also bear terrible witness to man's perversity and worthlessness. It's a complete mess!

Still, call me naive, I'm optimistic. In spite of everything that history, psychology, religion, and personal experience have to say, I still believe -- crossing my fingers here -- that man is fundamentally good.

It's just a matter of him recognizing it, then deciding to be good. If only he will!

In that spirit, I call upon the industrial powers -- those blasted industrialists who I've been railing against now for over a month -- to turn from your wicked ways ... and be good!

We see the fruit of their evil ways everyday, but we don't think it has to be that way. They are among the most willful and shortsighted of men. But if we can turn them, then there's no telling what we will be able to do with everyone else. So I'm calling on them, imploring them, and saying, "It's only right! Give up your evil and try to live in the world as good people!"

The big companies that are currently exploiting resources and despoiling the environment, that are currently living like the devil even in the face of the folly of their ways ... these are the very ones I sincerely believe can even now turn and become good.

 Please -- if you're reading this -- do as I say!