Relics of an Earlier Era

They were talking about the differences between various approaches. Advantages and disadvantages, justifications and refutations. The whole shebang as they say in places where they say that sort of thing.

“Why do you suppose our predecessors saw it that way?” she asked.

He squinted, pondering her query. He'd heard that same question posed in a mocking way, but she sounded genuinely interested. Something about the way she asked betrayed a curiosity that eluded many of their colleagues. He liked that about her.

“Good question,” he said. “I imagine that they were doing the best they could with information available to them at that time.”

She nodded.

“But as more information became available—”

“More information, or better information?”

He smiled. Yes, she understood. “As better information became available, thank you, others used that to gain further understanding. Unfortunately, not everyone had the desire or possibly even the ability to move forward with the rest of us.”

“So they became relics of an earlier era?”

“Precisely.”

“Why, then, do certain people mock them for their ways?”

“That's a little more complicated,” he said, rubbing his chin. “I suspect it has to do with feeling superior in the belief of one's own knowledge.”

“Or perhaps in the knowledge of one's own belief?”

“Yes, perhaps. The problem, of course, is that mockery isn't the best facilitator of understanding. As human discourse goes, there aren't many forms less conducive to it.”

“What's the solution?”

“I don't know, but one possibility might be for those that would mock to realize that their successors likely will have the same attitudes toward their held truths.”

“You're talking about compassion.”

“Yes, I suppose I am.”

“We aren't all so different.”

“No, we aren't.”