The Height of Civilization

Such is the plight of humankind that throughout history people live in a period that could be described as the living at or near the height of civilization.  In hindsight, save for a nuclear holocaust, that can never be true.  A stronger or more compelling force is always around the corner, yet to mere mortals such as ourselves, what the future holds is shrouded in darkness and uncertainty.  In fact, humans are usually as dumb as animals in forseeing and avoiding unnatural disasters (those brought onto ourselves).

I am quite pleased that Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.  He is a stronger leader than George W. Bush.  In fact, I'm sure that future generations will view this occasion as a turning point in US history.  We are, at least I am, kind of taking it for granted, but think of the other people who have breached the racial barrier, Jackie Robinson, Bill Cosby, Jesse Owens, etc.  These people are revered.  There achievements mark milestones in our history.  Barack's achievement will be no different.

Those two points, signify that we are at a crossroads.  A major event has just happened and our civilization is on the verge of a great change (for the better I must say).  Was it by chance that in my Google reader I am subscribed to a blog named the Austrian Economists because I am a fan of Frederick Hayek, a Nobel Laureate and author of the highly acclaimed book, The Road to Serfdom, a book about a plausible future (not a good one--at least for me), mentioned one of Hayek's peers, Mises, who for some unbeknownst to me reason, defined hundreds of words, one of which was picked by the blog editor to entice readers. 

That word was chiliastic, which I still don't know the exact meaning, though I blogged it on my Facebook page as Paul is feeling chiliastic today and the only one who noticed it was a black friend of mine who was my supervisor last year in the city before I was laid off because of the of the economic slowdown which evolved into a meltdown which made it easier for a black man to handily beat a Bush-man, to wake me up from my political slumber and see what John the Baptist saw a couple of centuries ago.  Someone is coming to fix everything....if only people listen.