Is his dream of obliterating the monkey and its violent endgames closer to being fulfilled in these early years of the 21st century? What would it take for all of humanity to adopt Ishmael's rejection of vengeance?

It is impossible for everybody, thank goodness, to go through what Ishmael did. The people in power are the ones who cause this and they, more or less, do not see the casualties of their decisions. Ishmael’s journey and ability to not seek vengeance is his own. Nobody can follow his path. Money and greed are the basic reasons Ishmael went through this. Unfortunately money, power and greed seem embedded in human nature. They are the true Gods of the 21st century. We have always fought wars over these things and we always will. At the risk of sounding overly pessimistic, I don't see people in power ever dealing with violence and war the same way Ishmael did. For the leaders responsiblr for these wars, greed has little conscience or empathy; the rest of us are at Walmart.