by Dennis Krivda

Created on: September 10, 2010   Last Updated: September 12, 2010

With beverage glasses raised, a Chinese toast goes something like this, "May you live during interesting times."

The turn of the 21st Century clearly qualifies as "interesting times" but it also stands out as a time of great irony. In fact, the current era completely and dramatically matches the very definition of irony.

In these interesting times humanity has managed to survive into the Information Age but ironically cannot quite figure out how to effectively communicate with itself.

True, when it comes to commerce, people of vastly different cultures and languages seem to have no trouble at all ordering 100,000 plastic trinkets from some factory in Qingpu, China. When it comes to actually communicating, though, mortals struggle to agree that fighting with (or even killing) one another over a difference in philosophy equates to insanity.

Somewhere within the global network of light-speed information exchanges the critical message that humans must learn to tolerate and coexist with one another becomes quickly lost or ignored.

How ironic.

How ironic it is that religious zealots and political junkies from every distant point on the planet can witness (within seconds of its happening) an affront to their world view, yet fail to receive the clarifying amendment that the images rarely match the attitude of the overwhelming majority of a region's inhabitants.

How ironic it is that pictures of violence and "anti-me" videos seem to easily work their ways through the filters, yet the bulletin of "this doesn't represent all of us" seems to always snag on the clogging plaque of hatred. Those infuriating frames of burning flags, smoldering effigies, charred human remains stream at mind-boggling speed around the world, but the vital message of peace, love and understanding routinely melts at equally blistering speed.

How ironic.

How ironic it is that intelligent primates - despite their technological wizardry - still thump their chests in defiance of one another while threatening death to, and destruction of their evil enemies across the watering hole. And the irony only deepens when the light of truth illuminates the reality that today's guerrillas no longer fight over a shrinking water hole. Rather, they fight over an idea, over a principle, over a god, over a philosophy, over a thought - in fact - they fight over nothing significant at all.

By this stage of its development, humanity should have matured well past such beastly behavior. Apparently, though,

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