Confidence in the Future - Miracle Drug?

On April 29th, 2005 I went to the fourth U2 concert of my life.  It was the Vertigo tour and it was at GM Place here in Vancouver.  The first U2 concert I attended was back on March 27, 1985 during the fourth leg of their Unforgettable Fire tour.  I remember the Montreal Gazette's description of that show being "a religious experience".  I remember Bono and the band really having control of the crowd.  Bringing us up into a frenzy and shushing us down to silence.  Inspiring us with great dialogue.  Well...back to 2005.  During this show he introduced one of the tunes, Miracle Drug, with the statement that the band has confidence in the future.  That statement stuck with me because it was so simple, it was confident and because the crowd reacted with cheers (well they did to everything said that night).  The way Bono pronounced and emphasized the word future still rings in my ears.  Anyhow, I completely agree with the statement that we should be confident.

Given all the problems that we get bombarded with in our world we can have confidence that we (the greater we - Man) will go on and thrive.  It just requires that we use the miracle we each carry in our skulls: our brain - just as Man has for the last 10,000 years and how our predecessors did as well (and our successors will).  The environmental issues, medical concerns, political wars, financial issues we face in our lives will be resolved.  We will survive, we will create new tools, we will explore, uncover and discover.

The seed that led me to write this particular entry was the following article in The Economist.  It highlights the importance of science, of research, of failure, of learning, of moving on, of continuing to explore.  Basically using the miracle we all carry....our brains.

Whether the problem is an environmental, medical, political, financial or social one Man solves them.  Maybe not fast enough for those directly affected by a particular problem to be content.  Maybe not fast enough for our children.  But we do, eventually, find the solution.  Let's not forget that we are part of the animal world and that our purpose is to survive as a species, not as individuals.  Let's not be egotistical as this is what leads to short-term thinking and to the prolongation of the problems themselves.

I want the oil to myself - war in the Middle East

I want the buck for myself - credit crunch and the financial mess

I want more profit - milk scare in China

I want to look better than my neighbour - consumerism and resulting environmental issues

No need for a Miracle Drug really.  Just that we start using our Miracle Brain.

Of science and the human heart

There is no limit

There is no failure here sweetheart

Just when you quit...