Just a Little Scarier Than It Used to Be

There's something wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
There's something wrong inside...

-- Aerosmith "Livin' on the Edge"

Today's news was full of the North Korean nuclear test. Now a crazy man with delusions of divinity has a weapon capable of starting a war that may be the end of all we know. Once one single person finally pushes that button, I wonder if there will be anybody standing in the end after the preemptive strikes, the retaliatory strikes, and all the other excuses to kill masses of humanity.

Why is life so cheap? How did it get that way? How can any person look at another and be blind to the beauty of that life? We talk about acceptable losses and collateral damage. We entertain ourselves with games full of destruction and movies full of the same. What is it about us that drives this blood thirst?

The leader of North Korea is in charge of a nation with the world's largest standing army and a population that is literally starving to death. There has to be a special place in hell for that sort of thing.

I keep thinking that God should have made us with some sort of fail-safe valve, some sort of mechanism that just blows up if we reach a certain point of evil. Don't talk to me about relativity, either. Don't talk about YOUR values versus MY values. I'm not talking about driving SUVs, leaving lights on when you leave the room, or failing to recycle. I don't mean things you ought or ought not to do. I'm talking about EVIL, all capital letters. I'm talking about the kind of evil that leads to child abuse and genocide, to dictatorships and torture. When you are in charge of a group of people and you use that power to suppress, misinform, torture, and starve them, that valve ought to blow sky high.

So what now? This is my generation's nuclear threat. I don't think we'll be having drills at school where we all slide under our desks and assume the position. What will we do? What about Japan, China, and South Korea sitting so close to the impulsive insanity of a human gone rabid with power and paranoia? I have friends in those places, and now I have to worry for them and for the wonderful nations in which they live as well as for my own land.

And what of the North Koreans? What will happen to them once the political maneuvering is over and the sanctions or worse begins? My one wish is that they as a people would rise up and say, "Too much is enough," and destroy the leadership. If they did that, then maybe they could have a chance at freedom.

Just thinking about all of it is enough to make you want to find a safe, dark place and hide. I don't know how this drama is going to unfold, but I have to say it's frightening. Thanks to the machinations of a madman, the world is just a little bit scarier that it used to be, and God knows, it was scary enough without it.