Just because I love this picture….

I just finished watching part of rerun of the Marvel Avenger movie, The Age of Ultron.  I know, I know…I’m avoiding writing my book again.  But still, sometimes you have to hear things from strange places so you can remember why you ultimately do the things you do. As I grow older, I no longer judge where inspiration comes from.

In the movie, there is an ominous line said about the evil villain who is a recently emerged generation of artificial intelligence, “Ultron doesn’t know the difference between saving the world and destroying it.”  The truth of this line landed heavy in my heart.  It spurred quite a conversation between my son Paul and me.  We started talking about the nuclear arms race that dominated the second half of the twentieth century, something Paul had learned about recently in history class.  It was (and still remains) a time of collective human insanity disguised as leadership, not unlike the artificial mind of Ultron.  Leaders in the U.S. and U.S.S.R. created the potential to destroy life on this planet not just once but hundreds of times over – this in an effort to keep us safe.  

This is insanity…we just have gotten used to it.

Paul turned to me and asked honestly, “Why did we let this happen?”  I choked on my grief because I don’t know.

Then the line that really rocked me.  It is near the end.  The evil Ultron is about to be destroyed by the newest Avenger called Vision who was literally born yesterday.  They are talking about the fate of the human race.  Ultron says about humans, “They’re doomed.”  Vision quietly replies, “Yes.”  After a pause he adds, “But a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts.”

What if we are doomed?  If forces are in motion that cannot be reversed?  What if our ultimate nature is to destroy life faster than we can create it?

Of course, each of us is doomed individually.  The price for being born is that we must also die.  So this damn comic book movie makes me feel the question both on an individual and collective level, what do you do with your life knowing that you are doomed?   Corny, I know but it makes me weepy because I don’t want my life to confuse the desire to save the world with acts that destroy it.

I think I know my answer:  I’ll help wherever, whenever, and however I can.  I will listen to people.  I will continue to feel sick about the mess that my son and his generation will inherit.  I will work to change it…in my own way and in the best way I know how.  I think I’ll get back to running Mind Body Solutions and writing my book, maybe even tonight.  I won’t do it because we’re doomed.  I’ll do it because a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts.

Life is beautiful.  I want to work for it…I hope you do too.