'To Bless All Mankind' August 3, 2015 Issue

Progress and underlying perfection

Jenny Sawyer

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, February 24, 2015.

It’s natural to look for signs of progress. The sun peeking out from behind the clouds. The first green shoots bravely poking up from the frosty ground—harbingers of harsh winter yielding to spring.

In an Upfront Blog on this website, Monitor editor at large John Yemma proposes that in spite of the so-called cycles of history—birth and growth, followed by decay—the real story of civilization is one of progress (“Why progress endures,” January 25). Beyond the grim cascade of news about war, tyranny, poverty, and terrorism there are waymarkers of progress. “Progress … builds,” Mr. Yemma writes.

So how do we look beyond heart-wrenching images depicting countries ravaged by need? Can we pull back the veil of despair and disappointment to find something that builds progress for mankind: genuine good that stands uninterrupted and inviolate?

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