An interesting constellation of articles and letters appeared in The Forum on Sunday, Jan. 15: The op-ed pages featured the debate between the proponents and opponents of evolution versus intelligent design, while the arts and travel pages concentrated on the Mozart 250th anniversary, including whether or not a skull, long believed to be that of the composer, is indeed Mozart's. I see some significance in all of this.
Whether or not the earth and its life forms were created by ID (God) or are the result of evolutionary forces or whether the skull is or isn't Mozart's, doesn't, to my way of thinking, change anything. If either side of the "earth" debate should finally win (whatever "winning" means), the sun will still rise and set, water will still run downhill, babies will still be born and we will all one day die. Whatever is finally proven about the skull, Mozart's music will still inspire, delight and challenge the human spirit.
In other words, the question of how we got here is the wrong question. What do we do now that we are here is the right question to be asking. Will we continue to live so that hunger, poverty, misery and war triumph? Or will we at last heed the words of the Hebrew prophets, of Jesus or of the Prophet to strive and work actively for justice, peace and righteousness until they "roll down like waters ... and as a mighty stream?"
Elwin Rogers
Moorhead
