Our Own Atomic Age

Mary Elizabeth Young - Class of 2016

  

 “How are we going to live in an atomic age?” 

 “I am tempted to reply: ‘Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night...’ In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation”

 “If we are going to be destroyed by the atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds” 

(On Living in an Atomic Age, C.S. Lewis)

Today, it seems, we find ourselves living in an atomic age of our own. Physical violence is an inarguable reality with mass shootings, acts of terrorism and the ever-present threat of nuclear warfare. Often, it seems, our society is painted as a mural of division, division oozing from every facet of our life, hyper-accentuating our differences (i.e., race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, etc.).  The current U.S. Presidential race is a very real illustration of our "separateness" from one another.

Perhaps though, Lewis’s advice to those living in the atomic age is relevant to us in the present age. There is no doubt we live in a time of darkness, where hatred and despair are very real and present. But “do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation.”  In the face of this darkness, let us continue to be light. 

The human concern, Lewis continues, is not survival at all costs—for scientists and theologians alike agree that the destruction of the civilization and this world is inevitable—but our concern is living. Let us continue living as humans, understanding that our present situation is not novel and that our time on this earth not permanent (for anyone at any time). Let these waves of violence, division, hatred, and the end, when it comes, find us “doing sensible things” for these“may break our bodies ... but they need not dominate our minds.”

Mary Elizabeth read this essay as part of a conference on C.S. Lewis hosted by the McConnell Center and Liberty Fund earlier in February. She is a senior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville studying English, Spanish, and political science.