Losing it all

If you have not read Jerad Diamond's book, Collapse, you should. You can view a free video that summarizes some of the content of that book here. Diamond explains why some civilizations collapse while others can continue for thousands of years.

The short (and oversimplified) version of that book is this: Poor stewards lose everything.

I think that I've heard that story somewhere before.

One interesting conclusion that Diamond reaches is that cultures that are unwilling to take risks--those that are unable to change--are those that tend to collapse. Whether it is Easter Island in the Pacific, Greenland in the Atlantic, or the Mayans in Central America, rigidness kills when the world changes.

Jesus said the same in his parable; the man who tries so hard to preserve what he has without risking anything is the one who loses.

Another thing that Diamond notices is that cultures in which the elite are able to avoid the consequences of the impending doom tend to do nothing until it is too late. So I'm sitting here with the air conditioning on. I'm guessing we won't really do much about our impending climate crisis until the power plants start to fail and we don't have that air conditioning so often. Of course, by then it will be much too late.

If you have not seen the documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth," go see it. Don't let people tell you that it is exaggerated or any such thing; do some research and make up your own mind. In fact, Al Gore's presentation is rather conservative compared with emerging scientific observations. You can also see a preview here.

We have been given the Earth. What it becomes is up to us. It is this generation, and no other, that must decide whether we make the investments necessary to save it, or give up and watch it become barely habitable, a planet-wide Easter Island.

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:14-30