This on my Google daily quotation:

“I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.” Stephen Hawking

Stephen, Stephen, Stephen.  I always thought of you as a source of inspiration.  Brilliant brain inside a crumpled body.  This goes to show that what Mahatma Gandhi said in yesterday’s quotation is true: “It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom.  It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

If Stephen were here, I’m sure I’d lose any argument we’d have based on logic.  My reaction to his quotation is not logical at all.  It is purely visceral.  Sadness.  Pity.  “…purely destructive.  We’ve created life in our own image.”  Really?  PURELY descrtuctive?  Here goes my inner Pollyanna again.  I suppose he would defend himself by saying it was a poor choice of words.  Maybe. But maybe that’s how he really feels?  And if he feels that way, others surely do too?  I find that view of life to be so sad, so jaded, and probably the reason I think faith is a good thing.  It is a common question among people of faith “I don’t know how someone survives death, illness, betrayal (insert your favorite tragedy here) without faith.”   This seems to me to be an example of what might happen.  You survive, but you have world view that believes we are purely destructive? Wow.  No thanks, I’ll take my superstition and foolish belief in the goodness of humanity based on a belief that there is a force bigger than us out there, which could probably can be described scientifically if we were smart enough.

It has been a comfort to read a list of Mahatma’s quotations after reading that sad quote by Stephen Hawking.  It is common knowledge that Stephen is an atheist and I have no issue with that.  Believe what you want to believe, or not.  I know atheists survive tragedies just fine, thank you.   But just for the record,  my “God” is a God of love.  My “God” is a God of hope.  My “God” is a God of believing that we are created in God’s image, and if so, then surely some of our inventions of “life” in the future will reflect that, as well as some that may very well reflect our depravity.

Here’s a final quote from Mahatma (yes, we’re on a first name basis, dude):

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Purely destructive? Not on my watch.

Mahatma Gandhi quotations are taken from http://www.thequotationspage.com  Check it out.  Great website. You can argue about stuff on that website all day long!