Friends, Romans, Countrymen

The famous introduction as commentary on Julius Caesar's death by Mark Anthony in Act III, scene II, rings in my mind as I observe the antics of yet another American election in the works. We are all Romans still, 2000 years after Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 B.C. at age 58. The western world seems to hold its act together about as precariously as it did in Caesar's day, wielding rhetoric as a favorite weapon in the grab for power and all its entitlements. The Romans would be astonished to witness to what degree they still affect every aspect of our daily political and social lives. Our nations' capitol buildings in their architecture, the language and name of the institutions such as Congress and Senate, the way we vote, the language of science in all its aspects and branches from botany to medicine, even something as mundane as the months on our calendars ( January, Mars, June, August, September, October, November,December,...) are all daily reminders that we are descendants of the Roman Empire, for better or worse. I just hope that the outcome will be better than what befell the Romans in the end, as they allowed the Huns to set back civilization a thousand years. It seems human evolution is a tediously slow process, and arrogance, or hubris as the Greeks called it, still seems to be the vice of preference among those that rule. It always had disastrous results in the past, it looks like we are well on our way to make sure that does not change any time soon. Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears. Two thousand years later, every one seems completely deaf. It 's going to be a hell of a ride.