Tom Deyo, age 10, of Des Moines, Iowa for his question:
Why do civilizations fall?
If you keep a scrapbook, you can paste this column beside the Fertile Crescent, printed two weeks ago. That once fertile region around the eastern Mediterranean was a cradle of civilizations. There through 6,000 years, many nations rose and fell. We can look back and trace patterns that were repeated behind the scenes. We also can trace similar patterns in the rise and fall of civilizations that came later.
They say that history repeats itself.. Dozens of past civilizations have been recorded, revealing the same old ups and downs. The details are dreary lists of bloody battles and kings, good or bad. But the scope of history makes sense only when we probe behind the scenes for what succeeded and what went wrong again and again. These reasons are hard to find because they are rooted in a complex blend of noble and unworthy qualities. His¬tory is actually a revelation of human nature.
When the last ice age retreated, many groups of wandering hunters settled in the rich valleys of the Fertile Crescent. They became farmers and flourished because they worked with a generous partner the good earth. They learned by trial and error to live in harmony with nature. Their fields and herds yielded abundance, as nature intended. They improved their lives and swapped friendly ideas with their neighbors. Civilizations pro¬gressed, as nature intended. But time after time this harmonious progress stopped and civilizations declined.
Nature did not fail her favored tenants. Mankind reacted to prosperity in many fool¬ish ways. He forgot that his success was rooted in his hard earned share of the generous earth and ignored nature's request to maintain his part of the bargain. He traded the sane beauty of reality for big headed ideas of his own importance and neglected his basic duties. Gradually, most of the Fertile Crescent became a barren desert.
Perhaps the trouble started because prosperous settlements feared that outsiders would steal their rightful rewards. In fact, many were plundered by wandering barbarians, who trampled the hard won benefits of civilization. The plundering hordes bred fear, and fear bred hordes of suspicions. Soon neighboring civilizations mistrusted each other – and armed themselves for defense. With warfare came easy loot and the false pride of victory:
Mankind was tempted to invent foolish excuses for his aggressions. Meantime, he failed to notice the real price of his false glory. His neglected homelands fell behind and his civilizations declined.
In most cases, the setbacks were triggered when prosperity was squandered on warfare. But a few failed because they ignored nature's request to progress. They set up rigid social orders that bound future generations to the past. This led to hot headed rebel¬lions that tore down both the good and the bad. These civilizations collapsed from inter¬nal strife.
The scene changed and in spite of setbacks, progress prevailed. When we review these capsules of ancient history, perhaps we can face the same old mistakes, still present in our own human nature. Perhaps we can learn to respect the splendid inheritance from our ancestors and avoid their mistakes. In any case, our portion of the patient earth is still here and the sane partnership with nature is still available.