Friday.....America.......14 Generations?

There are some people who consider it very important in determining the length of a generation. In a 2006 article in Ancestry Magazine written by Don Devine, he looked at the various studies done and his determination was that the male-line generation should best be considered as 35 years. Using this figure, it would be, next year, 14 generations since Martin Luther was excommunicated, the Reformation began in full force and the Middle Ages were finally eclipsed. There are a number of ways to look at history in terms of what particular influences changed the world. Certainly, the Reformation is to be included in those for not only was Christianity effected but the arts and sciences and government benefited by the freedom of thought and expression, and the thought and expression of freedom.  As for the United States, it would be in existence, today, slightly less than seven generations. Why bring this trivia up? One of the columns in Thomas Sowell's new book, reviewed yesterday, was on the contemporaneity of the American public today; if it isn't happening right now, it's not really interesting and certainly not relevant. If you judge 27 B. C. to 476 A. D. as "some" do, to be the timeline for the Roman Empire, it's a little bit over 14 generations. My intended message here is simply this, statistically speaking, if we were to collapse as a nation today or this epoch of Western Civilization ended, it would be well within projected duration for "empires" and "cultural paradigms" but this is the furthest thing from our mind. We believe that we are exempt from collapse and will not even entertain the concept, and our enemies, within and without, play this lack of vigilance on our part very well. We only admit to the potential of decline. To make it more harrowing, some actually pursue a decline and many of us really don't care, oblivious to what empire would eventually fill the void. If we would take the time to consider the mortality of our nation that has been a beacon of hope, discern the same signs today that Romans experienced and try to visualize a world with no United States, we might then plead for mercy from the God that a new world order would catastrophically attempt to extirpate.