At one time we were very optimistic about the future. We entertained ideas of a utopian society built on the back of rapid advances in science and technology. We knew that we could learn from past mistakes and innovatively avoid them in the future. We were like Chicago Cubs fans tenaciously clinging to the hope that this would be the year the Cubbies would win the World Series. Sadly, just like our pennant-challenged friends, we’ve had to accept the fact that things don’t always go as planned and despite our yearly enthusiasm we always seem to encounter a Bartman. We entertain dreams of a championship October but find it is already December and are forced to settle in for long, SAD (seasonal affective disorder) winter.

Our dreams of using technology to make a better future have been replaced by the nightmare of using it to anesthetize the present. We ignore the world God made and feverishly write software to create a virtual one. Instead of turning to our Father in prayer, we type commands into our mother board. We are, in essence, rewriting the Genesis account in cyberspace, but in this scenario it is man and not God who speaks, and instead of offering a “very good” blessing when it is completed we are left with nothing to say but “Cool graphics!”

Angered that God kicked us out of the Garden we defiantly construct our own digital parks but instead of protecting the cyber citizens by putting crime scene tape around the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil we make it wheelchair accessible. We tear down the “intolerant” Ten Commandments and replace them with a sign that reads “Tolerate or else!” Our once rejuvenating walks with God in the cool of the morning are replaced by strolls with the dogs of desire under the cover of night. Sadly, nobody carries a pooper-scooper and we find ourselves constantly stepping in everybody else’s digital “doo doo.” Too proud to scrape it off, we convince ourselves that it doesn’t smell that bad but find that we can no longer see the Souls of our own shoes.

My apologies to Cubs fans, especially my wife, because this may be the year.