Ozymandias's Children

There will be no final defeat of evil and ignorance.

Every victory is temporary.

Eventually, we’re going to lose.

Disaster (or justice) comes to every empire.

At best, it can only be delayed.

The more we try to lock in this state of affairs,

the faster and more catastrophically it will fall apart.

We don’t age gracefully, nor has our empire.

We would rather cling to youth and power than yield to age and wisdom.

But this law applies to civilizations as surely as it does to people.

Resign yourselves to this.

Our skyscrapers will come down.

All of them.

The barbarians, excuse me, “terrorists” will break down the door, and our grand plans will be ruined.

Our visions of the future will not come to pass.

Our empire will fall.

Because History isn’t over.

We’ve been led to believe that our destiny lies among the stars or among the ruins of Apocalypse.

But the truth lies somewhere in between.

History will continue without us.

Sooner or later, it will steamroll our cities.

It will flatten our dreams and throw them on the scrap-heap.

Sorry, MLK, but the arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend toward justice.

It just bends toward the next arc.

Don’t worry though.

There are arcs within arcs.

The West’s half-millennium of dominance is coming to an end,

And the sins of our age are not universal.

Bigotry may be a permanent part of the human condition.

But that doesn’t mean the same groups will remain on top forever.

The South will rise again.

The Global South, that is.

The East will rise again.

The future may see Black slavers sending White slaves across the ocean.

No race has a monopoly on evil.

Egypt had black pharaohs.

Rome had black emperors.

The same forces that ended those civilizations will end ours.

We believe we've defeated those obstacles.

But we'd might as well claim that we've defeated Death and become God. 

For all our desire to slip the surly bonds of Earth,

we remain dependent on its gifts.

Like the Prodigal Son, we try to prove our independence.

But, eventually, we must return to Nature's pacifying embrace.

The Sands of Time will bury our monuments.

Our dust will form part of the foundation, and cautionary example, for the civilizations to come.

Let’s hope they aren’t as arrogant as us.

Let’s hope they recognize their place in the web of Nature.

Let’s hope they recognize their limitations without forgetting their power.

They’ll come up with all new wonders and sins,

As we take our place next to Ozymandias,

buried in the sands of a backwater.

Let’s hope they only laugh at our hubris

and don’t curse us for destroying their world.