CIVILIZATION
FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE

by Peter Sørensen
March 30th 2003

The wheel was invented 5,500 years ago in Mesopotamia -- today’s Iraq -- at the dawn of humanity’s first civilization. It was there in the "fertile crescent," at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, that the Sumerians built the first great cities, and, among other shining accomplishments, devised the first writing. Their unprecedented technologies and advanced social structure were far advanced from what had gone before. So much so that they enjoyed the first food surpluses in history. Historians often call this golden place and time, "The Cradle of Civilization."

"Bush is turning the Cradle of Civilization into it’s grave!" said my old friend Eric Siegel, a couple of days ago. I surprised him by breaking out in loud laughter. But the irony was SO powerful -- the only alternative was to cry! (And it’s a curious fact that humor often relies on pain or misfortune -- why is someone falling on a banana peel funny?).

His statement is deeply profound, though. For even as we spoke, the place where our ancestors first settled permanently and the arts first flourished on a grand scale, cruise missiles and bombs were persistently and methodically destroying our Cradle’s main city.

Along with the poor people dying there, the museums and libraries are being burnt and blasted to bits. In fact, the very soil and sand in the reign has been lived on and traveled over for so long, that there is hardly a foot of ground without historical significance and artifacts buried beneath it. This area is a World Treasure -- to think that it is being blown to smithereens just so that the richest men in the world can become even wealthier!

Of COURSE, first and foremost I weep for the death and agony being suffered by the innocent people -- absolutely! But I have seen no mention of the loss to our human heritage that this deplorable war is causing. ("War" -- how can it be called a war when one side has several thousand times the destructive power of the other?!) So someone must speak up for our proud past.

And the life-giving soil of Iraq has been home to peoples millennia before civilization began. The fertile land between the rivers attracted hunter/gatherers during the stone age. And lying beneath the crumbling ruins of Ziggurats and city walls are more ancient settlements, which in turn built upon the charcoal from the fires of nomadic tribes, where mysterious amulets lie alongside flint tools.

It is thanks to the invention of writing that, effectively, history could be said to start in The Cradle. Their writing began as a means of keeping records of food stocks and other resources. Using the first standardized weights and measures, the accountants kept records of how many bushels of grain each farmer provided, and how much of it was provided to everyone else. The bean counter was born.

From a simple tally of groceries and work done, the notations on clay evolved into a rich writing vocabulary, making it possible for mathematics, astronomy and literature to flourish. And the priesthood, in their spiraling Ziggurat temples, recorded their sacred myths. (Many of the chapters in the Old Testament were lifted directly from them, such as the story of Noah and the flood.)

A king named Hammurapi, perhaps their greatest, was responsible for setting forth a code of ethics aimed at preventing the mighty from oppressing the weak. His 282 laws covered property, behavior, and even medical quackery. The most famous one is his principle for punishment, "An eye for an eye" (it too, is older than the Bible!). The laws were all carved in stone and erected in every city throughout the land.

Babylonian mathematicians devised a counting system based on 60 (instead of 10). They divided the circle into 360 degrees and the year into 12 months. Their math and science was unsurpassed for a thousand years.

I could go on and on. I’ll wind up my history reminding you that three thousand year after civilization started between the rivers, King Nebuchadnezzar built his Hanging Gardens. Although the gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of the World, they were nothing compared to the invention of writing, and earlier accomplishments of the people we today call Iraqis. (Shortly after Nebuchadnezzar’s death the land fell to the Persians, and its glory faded into the shadows of history.)

BACK TO THE AWEFUL, SHOCKING PRESENT

Now the world spotlight is on The Cradle once again. And, like a nasty kid kicking down a carefully built sand castle, the thief who stole the White House is having a wonderful time flattening Baghdad and snuffing out lives. (I don’t for an instant buy his sudden interest in humanitarian concerns, which only popped up in his too-soft-spoken rhetoric, mere weeks before B Day. This is, after all, the cold hearted Governor who executed more people during his term than any other in America during the last 50 years -- never once commuting a sentence! I’ve heard that he used to torture frogs when he was a boy. I can believe it.

I fully expect this monster to move on from Iraq to Iran, and on, and on. The goal of the billionaires behind him is empire, and he/they will not stop until they control the wealth of the world. Hitler tried to pull this off a bit too early when the technology wasn’t up to it. But it is now! Only a blind man would assume that the steps Bu$h has taken since his coup just coincidentally are exactly what a Hitler would take. Some brainwashed fools even seem to believe that we will soon have Peace in Our Time. (In 1938 Hitler began overrunning Europe, and in a vain attempt to stop him, England and France said he could keep what he had taken. This was VERY briefly applauded as "Peace in Our Time.")

Our peace will be brief indeed. There are many radical Muslims who might have accepted the bombing of Afghanistan as an eye for an eye, but who will NOT take this unjust bombing lying down. And I’m sure Bu$h is counting on them to do their worst. Another 9/11 is all the excuse he needs to assume dictatorial powers -- very possibly by instituting marshal law and canceling the next elections if need be. At the very least, our freedoms and Civil Rights will be trashed far beyond the present (un-American) Patriot Act and our grim, Orwellian Homeland Security.

If you’ve read this far, you probably agree with me.

And you know why it appears to me that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it. Ironically beginning with the bombing of our Cradle.

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PS: It doesn’t HAVE to happen! The largest worldwide rallying of outraged people in history is taking place! Join us! Do something -- ANYTHING -- to help!

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