Reports of landmines strewn across landscapes saturate our media. Images of soldiers and civilians crippled by exploded mines fill screens and break hearts. Montgomery County is blessedly free from such remnants of wars. Nevertheless, invisible landmines lurk beneath the surface of our futures, many of which we are unaware until they erupt, bringing crippling emotional and physical harm that cloud our future.
Humans are by nature finite, imperfect and temporary like everything in the world. We gradually fail mentally and physically in a process that exposes landmines that threaten to disrupt our lives. Many of us are fortunate to live where medical care and social infrastructures help us avoid some landmines as long as possible.
Although we share 99.9% of DNA with other humans, less-than one percent distinguishes you from every other person, unless you have an identical twin. Inherited characteristics, such as height, skin color, intellectual ability and others of which we are unaware, affect our lives, including some unwanted landmines in our pathways. DNA does not dictate our future, but it does set some parameters as we navigate individual pathways. Nevertheless, we cannot say, “The DNA made me do it!” Much depends on nurture, not nature.
An old proverb stated, “The ancestors ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” A meaning is that sins of ancestors lay landmines for those who follow them. A father beats his wife and child leaving emotional and physical scars that last a lifetime. A pregnant woman indulges in alcohol and drugs, and the fetus suffers severe damage. While sitting at the kitchen table, a TV report about rape grabs our friend’s attention. The concluding words that the statute of limitations had passed causes our elderly friend to sob. Through tears she says, “No statute of limitation exists for victims.” She relives across seven decades being a small girl enticed out to the barn by an older relative. A landmine had just exploded from the TV. The truth is that most of our interactions affect others either positively or negatively, sometimes for a lifetime.
Individuals and groups are hurt by events which they do not control and bear no moral responsibility. Tyrants invade neighboring countries. Human actions cause droughts and famines that destroy the future of African families. Gang drug wars lead to errant gunfire killing children. Drunk drivers cripple pedestrians. Decline of neighborhoods rob youth of good education and jobs, thereby condemning them to underemployment and worse.
Nevertheless, we are rational individuals with ability to make decisions. Reason and volition are in our DNA, which makes us moral creatures. We are responsible for our own decisions and actions. Each of us can testify to the sad fact that we have made bad even immoral ones that haunt memory and shadow the future. No need to “stop preaching and start meddling” here because each person knows some all too well, both intentional and unintentional.
You cannot avoid all landmines, but you can tread carefully. A sign at the beginning of the old Alaskan highway: “Be careful what rut you slip into because you will be in it for the next 200 miles!” You can think about risks you take that cause future damage. You can study various factors that contribute to your problems, thereby stopping you from falsely accusing “them” for your distress. You can avoid social situations and places that are notorious for explosions. Most important, you can avoid actions that lay landmines for yourself and our neighbors. Fortunately, we don’t have to worry about metal landmines littering Montgomery County, which gives us freedom to try to defuse those others before they explode. Only a fool ignores them!
Raymond B. Williams, Crawfordsville, LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities emeritus, contributed this guest column.
