By Ron Faust 

The 2024 Oscars have spoken
   Designating Best Picture
   As the epic “Oppenheimer”
   Who manipulated the atom
   And created the Atomic Bomb

The film did not go far enough
   To reveal the negative impact
   Of radiation around the world
   Showing the power of the blast
   But minimizing signs of uranium

Scientists measure evolution in eons
   More than 4.6 billion years old
   Starting with the Triassic period
   Dawn of dinosaurs then mammals
   Then the ice age of the Pleistocene
   Humans evolved in the Holocene Era
   Identified within the past 11,700 years

The controversy emerges with this film
   Whether human activity has moved us
   Into the Anthropocene age since 1945
   With the advent of the Nuclear Age
   And human impact on Climate Change

The Nuclear Age is an existential threat
   That poses complete annihilation
   And shows a moral dilemma
   That we have the capacity to destroy
   With less ability to limit our hubris
   To build instruments of destruction

Our hope is we have been lucky so far
   So far we rely on dreaming innocence
   To build a national defense out of fear
   But this does not make us feel safe
   And we know humans could end it all
   We like movies for entertainment value
   Yet such films make us uncomfortable
   To go forward with faith, family, friends
   Urging us to die or live as peacemakers.

3/12/24  (On occasion of critiquing Oppenheimer and earth history from The KC Star 3/11/24)

—By Ron Faust, retired Disciples of Christ minister former PeaceWorks Board member. © 2024, Ron Faust, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.