I wish I could tell you that humanity is a loving, social, compassionate, and considerate species that looks out for each other as well as ourselves.
The reality is that altruism and self-sacrifice usually come with age, experience, maturity, and prosperity. Many of us struggle with just our day-to-day affairs, so our reality is limited to surviving the day, pleasing our bosses, getting paid, and paying our bills.
For those of us able to rise above our day-to-day struggles, we focus on family, shelter, transportation, and providing for the needs and comfort of ourselves and our family. We’re no longer selfish, but still put ourselves and our families before others.
For those of us doing well with family, home, and hearth, we can begin to put our communities, our society, and our nation as concerns for the immediate welfare and long-term survival of our species. We care not only about ourselves and our family, but the needs of others outside of our day-to-day experiences or immediate concerns.
Or, at least, I think that’s supposed to be how it works… but as the water in Flint, Michigan, and the treatment of minorities by a Caucasian majority who want to hold onto power, and how a nation divided by those who want to better their own immediate needs vs bettering us all together… sometimes we willing walk towards our own demise if it means short-term gains and spiting others?
I saw this as I worked for the DoD, as poverty-stricken nations feuded and warred among themselves, propping up dictators who fueled their division and animosity. I saw this as I worked for the EPA, as people willingly stripped away water and air pollution regulations if it meant having a job or $1 more an hour. I saw this at NOAA as people insisted that climate change was not real and that the perpetually pumping out of burnt fossil fuels would have no impact whatsoever on the planet on which we live.
Humanity is capable of so much both individually and together, but if we all keep our heads down and think only of ourselves, our own immediate needs, and just getting by from day to day… then where we find ourselves tomorrow might not be what we thought it would be.
Very good information for everyone to see.
Demoralizing. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be healthy. May all beings be loving.
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it — always.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Linda DeYoung
Most people are good. It’s easy to take the black outlook.
Ken Foreman
Linda – most people are good, but goodness is rarely loud, goodness rarely makes the news, goodness rarely leads society into a “shared common weal.”
I would like the goodness of most people to become more self-evident, to make the news more often, to make decisions regarding our shared forward movement. I would like our goodness to be what we primarily display, lead by, and drive our decisions in how we interact with and treat others.
Linda DeYoung
So make goodness loud in your posts. Talk more about the good than about the faults.
Andres
making the good more salient isn’t a bad idea.