100 Years

It was really quite interesting to me that my Victorian Literature professor asked the class to write a short paragraph of what we thought would be different in the world in the year 2115. After all, in a class where the past is our guidebook, where the texts of our forefathers are our instructions, why would we be looking ahead to the future?

Of course, I thought about what might change, and came to the conclusion that I am immediately an optimist, though upon reflection I became quite a pessimist. My first responses to the question were lighthearted--I thought that maybe by then, there would at least be a season 4 of Sherlock and a way to teleport to class at 8:59 on Monday mornings. As I began to genuinely think on it, though, I began to hope for the best. I wanted someone to recognize the problems of third-world countries and help them. I believed someone would stand up for them. I believed that we would find ways to become a global community in a way that didn't sacrifice cultural identity, that we would become tolerant of others in a new way. And then it was pointed out to me that one of the best ways to tolerate others is to make them more like oneself--which reminds me a bit of The White Man's Burden and the British empire--and I began to wonder. Will it really get better? Will the environmental movement take hold, or will we wait until the last possible minute to scrounge up the few precious resources that remain? Now I'm beginning to think it might be the second. Maybe we should have taken better heed of our history as a planet.

So why look ahead, when we're trying to use the past as our guide?

And in contemplating this question, I've remembered why I study what I do. I'm a history and literature student because I believe that the past is the key to the future. I believe that if we cannot transfer the situations, themes, and trends of the past into our present mindset, we will end up in a cyclical world that cannot find fulfillment. There will always be more to fix, because someone did not understand the mistake. And I take this chance to say that it must all be a lot easier to do if we have God on our side, for there is no greater force than he for change.

I like change.

And yet I understand that the positive change I am looking for, that I'm hoping in the forefront of my thoughts will be realized only if I, if you, and if our peers--our generation--takes those steps together. This is the world we've been given. The only one. And we've got to take care of it and of each other, because what might happen next depends entirely on whether or not we are optimistic and active or pessimistic and lazy.