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I nodded. "But you know all this. Why do you ask?"
"I wanted you to acknowledge it, because this critical failure puts the greatest demand on the most advanced thinkers," she replied. "The urgency demands that society put the best resources to work that it has. That's us, Peter, right here. If nuclear war erupts, we can kiss the Ice Age Renaissance good bye. It will then become physically impossible to implement."
"I would count Sylvia among the advanced thinkers of the world," I said to her. "It's dishonorable, even immoral, to withhold this challenge from her. We must raise this issue by which she can grow as a human being and help save civilization at the same time. The coming Ice Age is like a great dam that we know is breaking. The possibility for a nuclear war is an element of that. Of course we can't fix the dam of the Ice Age breaking. However, we can prepare our village for the consequences when the 'breaking' deep-freeze disables our traditional agriculture. We can take steps to protect the village behind the dam. It may take a hundred years to accomplish that, but it can be done. It would be honorable, therefore, to inspire Sylvia to become a part of the solution to save the village, rather than risk her becoming a victim when the dam begins to fail and the needed work hasn't been done."
Ushi nodded. "The fact is, the world urgently needs people who can boldly stand up for the truth and fight for it," said Ushi.
"There is only one small hurtle to cross to get Sylvia there," I said to Ushi. I agreed with Ushi that the old challenge remains that we protect one-another from diseases, but I added that we must protect one-another from every danger, especially from the danger of a collapsing civilization, which is a form of self-inflicted harm. This larger demand of love will never go away. In fact, the demand has become more crucial. It must therefore be addressed responsibly and with care, but also with allowing love to unfold in every nook and crevice, instead of resorting to primitive isolation. If we treat each other on an ever-wider platform with the care, love, and affection that are the foundation for all bonds of unity, we will make the world safe for our baby to be born, which really isn't ours, but is a child of our humanity that we have become responsible for, as for all the children, by inviting the new child to be."
Ushi just laughed. "You should hear yourself, Peter. You sound already like a prospective father. Steve said something similar to this when he told me that I could have my baby with whosoever I would choose. He said that his care, love, and affection would always embrace me and our universal child, 'the child of the universe' as he called it. Of course, the most responsible answer to that would be to choose him to be the one to start the invitation and the celebration. Being the father of it in that sense would greatly enrich his life and add to the wonderful bond between us that we both treasure. However, it would still be 'our' child. And who knows, there may be a time some day in which you too might be involved in such an invitation, starting another celebration with me. That's scary right now, isn't it?"
"Wonderfully scary," I replied.
It was beautiful to listen to Ushi the way she had described the world of 'our' child, the child of our humanity, as we were getting ready this afternoon to go out into the world again, to the beach and for dinner afterwards. That's what I loved about Ushi and Steve. Whatever needed to be done to break the cycle of isolation, was done no matter what it took. It was as if they recognized this as a principle by which they, and everyone else, would end up richer.
I recognized that this principle was the same principle on which our country had been built up during its brighter era. The building of the Golden Gate Bridge was an example of it. It had been built because it needed to be built. It had been built regardless of the cost involved, and it became a beautiful monument all at the same time. The cost didn't seem to matter in comparison to the potential benefits for the entire area. I realized that this is the principle by which civilization is advanced when people care enough for each other to take the responsibility to elevate one-another and their world to greater levels of freedom. I recognized sadly that this rational quality had been largely destroyed in human hearts over the last few decades, except in Steve's heart, where it was still fully evident by his commitment to Ushi's freedom that had created once again a still more beautiful world.
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