We live in an age of anguish, filled with global uncertainties and insecurities, carried along in a tidal eruption of contending concerns and many conflicting voices. The silencing of forthright progressive leadership from the American Congress over the last eight years offers just one example of the remarkable disruptions affecting our times.
However all this plays out, I, for one, continue in confidence to play my small role in the mighty maelstrom of social force and destiny in the United States.
Yes, an ultimate purpose exists for us. The recent passing of the great Jew and humanitarian Elie Wiesel intensifies my own professional and personal purpose to help us heal by remembering.
In a sense, we stand out as secret survivors of the century-long historical parade. We must never deny the collective memory in which we all share, for better or for worse. The stunning silence of America seems somewhat terrifying today, much more terrifying than the actual acts of pathological fanatics. Our moral compass and watch spring seem pitifully forgotten, even abandoned. Most contemporary Americans seem more concerned with upholding diminishing comfort rather than calibrating a courageous conscience. And yes, to a degree, I can understand that point of view, even if I repudiate it.
But we must never, never permit ourselves to become hostage to fear or terror. We must embrace the simple truth first enunciated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the conclusion of World War II that we are “citizens of the world.”
We must accept the challenge of extending our friendship to the whole world community and rightfully accept our responsibility toward healing, protecting, and safeguarding our American heart and mind toward the hope of a new expression of freedom, love, and compassion for the human condition. We must re-establish our convictions free from mistrust or suspicions of others. We must resist with all our strength the inertia to surrender our powers of reason and the glorious historical legacy which belongs to all Americans.
Like Isaac Newton four centuries ago, we must recognize that we, too, stand on the shoulders of “giants” to offer us new insights, new vision, and new frontier for the future. And we must, above all, never forget how God marches alongside us in encouragement to remember His blessings upon our land and upon our lives.
The stars in their courses, whose study I continue to dedicate myself after 50 years of insight and mysterious experience, should remain as an eternal reminder of the reality of truth and freedom and justice. This July as we approach the 47th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s “small step”, let Vega, Deneb, and Altair, yea, mighty Mars and sublime Saturn shine by night to show us the way into the best of daylights.
Larry Berz of Caribou is director of Easton’s Francis Malcolm Planetarium and astronomy instructor at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.
