What’s the big deal?  Well, it’s something  about the slow progression of humankind toward a life filled with beauty and  wisdom and compassion.  Oh, I know there’s still lots of people who get  slammed with lives of senseless cruelty.  There’s lots of work to do  helping humanity become more humane. But it’s clear to me that the possibility  has taken root.  I know this because the kind vibe last night was not  surprising at all to the rest of the audience.  It was no big deal to them  that they were comfortable being themselves and their hearts felt safe with  their friends.  That’s just their normal world.  But if I had gotten  to feel that way for an hour or two at their age, it would have been a  miraculous exception to the rule.  This is what’s different for Nate’s  generation.  This time around, the progress of humankind is awakening to  the realm of the heart, becoming more authentic and connected with each  other.  Back when I was a kid, the ambient mindset about the progress of  humanity only had one thing to brag about: that life was made easier with the  help of machinery.  We were supposed to place our future hope in  time-saving inventions.  The thinking was mechanistic:  Just make the  flow of commodities more efficient and life will be better for each of us.   We will expend less energy  -  and then we’ll be happy, right?   Humanity can be fulfilled with more stuff and less work, right?   High  efficiency is a great goal for machinery, and it might also make humans more  human.  Oh well, it was worth a try.  I am glad to see the world  progressing toward a more humane notion of what makes us  human.