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Charleston Gazette-Mail - Sept. 25, 2016
reprinted in 20 newspapersRemember a semi-comic Cold War movie, "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming"?
A deadly Soviet Union nuclear submarine, capable of killing millions of Americans, suffered engine trouble and was forced to surface in a little New England fishing village. After some awkward dealings, villagers with shotguns and rifles went to the waterfront. Soviet sailors lined the deck with machine guns. Weapons aimed, they faced each other in a tense standoff. If anyone pulled a trigger, a double massacre would occur.
Suddenly, a little boy, watching the drama from a church belfry, fell and was caught tangled in a rope, suspended high above the ground, screeching. Abruptly, both Russians and Americans put down their guns and rushed to rescue the child. Sailors formed a human pyramid and untangled him. Then both Russians and Americans joined in a hugging, back-slapping celebration. Village girls kissed Russian sailors.
U.S. warplanes arrived to destroy the stranded sub, but villagers shielded it with their fishing boats and escorted it safely back to sea.
The movie had a deep meaning: Human decency -- the urge to save a child -- is stronger than political conflicts and military hostilities.
A similar message occurred on Christmas Eve, 1914, when British and German soldiers paused their hideous trench warfare on the Western Front for a spontaneous truce. They sang carols to each other, shouted holiday greetings, then got out of their bunkers to meet in No Man's Land, where they traded small gifts and cordialities. Afterward, commanders had difficulty forcing the men to resume shooting each other.
Actually, human decency is the lifeblood of civilization. Abraham Lincoln poetically called it "the better angels of our nature." The desire to help each other -- or at least not kill each other -- keeps humanity surviving and thriving.
Philosophers call it humanism, a craving to reduce slaughter and make life better for everyone. It's the driving force of social advancement.
Every government program that reduces poverty, improves health, prevents violence, upgrades nutrition, guarantees human rights, betters education, secures housing, assures equality, cures disease, enforces fairness, etc., is a step in the process.
And decency slowly is winning. Several scholars have written books outlining progress that has elevated personal living conditions.
For example, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker asserts that rampant killing was 1,000 times worse in medieval times than today. In his classic 2011 book, "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined," he notes that international warfare has virtually vanished in the 21st century -- and that murder, rape, genocide, torture, wife-beating, lynching, gay-bashing, dueling, racial attacks, and even cruelty to animals are vastly less than in the past.
"The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species," he wrote. "It is easy to forget how dangerous life used to be, how deeply brutality was once woven into the fabric of daily existence."
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