Now I'm ready to post about this debate... without addressing the debate at all. Do we need any more wise statements--from anyone--claiming the best and last word that shames all others? Oh sure, we're encouraged by "both" sides (or more?) to see the light and assured that, one day, the world will know that "my" side was right and "yours" was wrong, but it's not really about who's right or wrong at all, is it?
No, I don't think it is.
I think it's about the dynasty that you and I are building: in our own families, in our communities and states, and in our world as a whole. What kind of a legacy are we leaving to those who come behind us?
If we step back from our self-centered perspectives for a moment and consider the broad scope of history, we may be forced to recognize that most of us will fall through the historical "cracks" when we're gone. We will not be remembered. Our immediate friends and families will be impacted, but they too will one day be gone--our memory with them. Beyond that we will all largely be but a short-lived memory. An unfamiliar name on a faded letter someone finds. Or a faded photo of an unremarkable-though-intelligent-for-their-time person on a book's dust jacket. Our ideas, that were once so groundbreaking, will become the pulverized concrete others use to build up their own ideas... at least, until the same thing happens to them.
So I ask these questions, as the beginning of a dialogue and the end of this post: What kind of dynasty are you building with the life you now lead, and what will that leave for those who come behind you?