A personal memory, friar Joseph Lazzaro

When I was a boy I asked my teacher of religion for what was the free will.
The late lamented friar Joseph Lazzaro of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who was a physicist, thought a bit and then he gave me the following explanation. "Raffaele" - told me-"imagines you to be on the top of a mountain from which you domains with your eyes the entire valley below. On that same valley, there is a river in which a boat is carrying your friends during trips. You, who are on the top of the mountain, you can see with your eyes the past and the future of the people navigating the boat. You could see, for example, that a few kilometers from the point where at that moment the boat is, there is a large waterfall. You would like to warn your friends, you arm, you scream, do everything possible to warn them but you are too far, you can not succeed. What will happen to the boat? It will bang with all its load on the rocks below or save? It will depend on the occupiers of the boat. If these people, your friends and its crew, will carouse, they will not read any premonitory signal that reveals the possible danger signals such as increased speed of surface water and hence the current of the river, the formation of reels etc., the boat in this case will continue navigating bringing to destruction its load. Conversely, if your friends who are on the boat interpret correctly and on time signals announcing an imminent danger, they will be able to do "all machines back" and they will be saved. Like you can see, Raffaele, said friar Joseph Lazarus, everything will depend on the behaviour of the boat occupants, from them and only them. The free will mean “ to decide through awareness and knowledge of its own destiny. "
Today the boat is called Earth, its passengers are all living species and the entire humanity. The helmsmen of this boat are "chosen few". The warning signs of a possible imminent disaster are clear and known. Will the boat Earth to do "all machines back" and trace the current of the river of time? I have my doubts…