The Evolution of Tragedy

I would rather die in love than live in hate. 

Death isn't the ultimate. Love is. 

                            ***

Tragedy isn't new.

But there was a time when the rest of the world wasn't immediately, intimately, unavoidably aware of every detail of tragedy.  There was a time when an extremist sect was relegated to obscurity because it didn't have the way or the means to globalize its grievances and terrorize practically the entire planet.  There was a time when "eye-for-an-eye" faiths, laws and punishments were isolated evidence that not all members of the human race had evolved equally.  Indeed, they haven't.

That time was before the universality of the internet and high-speed travel, when we knew more about our door-yard neighbors than about those whom we'd never physically met half a world away.  That time has passed.  Will it ever return without a global reboot?

Tragedy isn't new.  It's just been globalized.  Evolution is a process. Whether it's "good" or "bad" is up to us.

Many thanks to my friend Noni for such an evocative photograph.