Progress, Sisyphus . . . . or the Blow Monkeys? I was “chewing the fat” one night a few months ago with the Montclair Socrates Café group, where the subject de jour (actually, “de la soiree”) was whether evil was essential to humankind. As is typical for the group, we kind of danced around the topic, not following any cohesive line of thinking but instead presenting a cloud of dots. But actually, that’s not such a bad thing. Maybe that’s just what the master himself (i.e., Socrates) would have wanted.

For me, it all boiled down to another question: has humanity made things better (e.g., reducing the amount of overall pain and suffering in the world), or does the balance between good and evil stay the same no matter how much things change? Can there be real progress, or like Sisyphus, are we only rolling stones up a hill just to see them roll back down? Can we make a difference with our lives, or in the end does the good and bad that we do just balance out? Or if one person manages to accomplish some net good, is there another person who accomplishes just as much evil?

I used to honestly believe that “it doesn’t have to be this way”. And today I still want to believe it. But it’s so difficult; when I was young we had Communists and nuclear missiles and Vietnam to worry about. Now we have Al Qaeda and suicide bombers and Iraq to worry about. It’s different, but is it really any different?

Well ….. some days you’ve got to take refuge in the little things that make you smile. I did a Google search on the phrase “it doesn’t have to be this way”, and was surprised to find that there are plenty of songs that use this line. I always liked the Roger Waters song (Keep Talking, from the Division Bell album) where the lecturer chants this line in the background. Well, actually he says “it doesn’t have to be like this” … hey, close enough. But then I found out about a song from an 80’s band called the Blow Monkeys, entitled “It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way”. The Blow Monkeys — never heard of ‘em, but definitely a cool name . . . maybe even worth a smile!

As to the Montclair Socrates Café . . . . . . I’ve hit the road. Taken a pass on them. More on that next time, perhaps.