The greatest crime in human history was not the creation of the armaments of warfare and destruction of life, but the invention of hand mirror, which enticed humankind to peer at their surface appearance instead of seeking spiritual salvation. Prior to the invention of the mirror, people saw themselves through other people’s eyes or by looking deep within themselves.

Lurking in roughly equal preeminence in humankind’s angst-ridden soul is an antipodal nature, a righteous persona manacled to an agathokakological creature. The species Homo sapiens creates art, literature, music, poetry, architecture, and developed mathematics and philosophy. This creature is also prone to homicide, equipped for rape and sadism, inclined towards religious violence and secular killings, and capable of torture and cannibalism.

In the wink of an eye, all quaint days of the past, the present, and future will meld together into the bottomless unknown of perpetuity. Only trace evidence of our invertebrate existence will anoint future generations. In the crinkle of time, our houses will crumble apart. Companies that we worked for will go out of business or merge with other nameless conglomerates. What will survive us are our children and our words.

Many aspects of the human condition are beautiful and many others are vile. Betrayal and personal agony represent a maddening part of being human. A person can maintain personal dignity by exercising restraint, remaining true to their conscience, and preserving under difficult conditions.

Jacques Mondo, in his 1970book “Chance and Necessity,” summarized the challenge of humanity in these trying times. 'The universe is not pregnant with life or the biosphere with man... The ancient covenant is in pieces; man knows at last that he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe, out of which he emerged only by chance. His destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor his duty. The kingdom above or darkness below; it is for him to choose.

No civilization can afford to remain stagnant. Citizens of the world must steel themselves for the defining challenges of their generation. People of every nation must fight pitched battles that they can never completely win. Our attitude of either capitulating to the evil permutations of our times or fighting for humanity is our story. How we address our domestic and international responsibilities is how we define our humanness.

Hard edges make truth and by necessity, truth is unbending. Unlike truth’s absolutism, justice is a qualitative substance; it is not an absolute tenet. Justice must be pliable in order to meet the needs of more than one person or one group. Justice goes against separation; it is a form of human superglue. Justice is what binds us as people. No human is capable of measuring out or dispensing unqualified justice. Justice naturally seeks conciliation and demands compromise.