Inspired by the Ugliness on Comment Boards

We are all human – of one race. I’ve been watching, reading, hearing, and most of what is expressed by my fellow human beings, has me shaking my head. I feel the bitterness, ugliness, apathetic and cynical undertone that dilutes everything we say or do. It drains me. I have come to the conclusion that as much as I like to know what’s going on, it does not serve me to be part of it. What is there that I could say to someone who believes the ugliness is truth? Who dismisses one good act because another wasn’t done? Sure, we can go on pointing fingers, placing blame, but when I step outside this circle of negative feeding, one thing remains clear – we are all the same.

We all feel frustrations. I feel it. The oil leak disgusts me. Then to find out there is another one in China. It’s not our government, or BP, or anyone else we can place the blame on – it is our nature that leads us into these messes. This is why it kills me. I have to ask, will we learn? My doubt gets the better of me sometimes. I question our ability to evolve away from the very nature that sets out to destroy us and every other living thing on this planet. We strive so hard to find someone else to blame. We want to blame Obama or the damn liberals. And anyone who dares call themselves a Republican is out of their minds! NO, we are out of our minds — we as in you, me, and the rest of the 7 billion people on this planet. We fight over the most trivial of things. We deny the most obvious of things. Are we contributing to climate change? Yes, absolutely. Should we be battling over and spending millions of dollars to “prevent” gay marriage? No. Especially when that money can actually go to a good cause like preventing children from being homeless or feeding the poor. But fear, fear prevents us from using logic in an empathetic and compassionate way. I know for some those feel like fluff words when the enemy is at our door, but who is our real enemy? It is that very nature inside each and every one of us that causes us to have this external definition of an enemy. It is the same nature in your “enemy” that makes him look to you as an enemy. It is two men staring each other down separate in body, but one in nature.

It is our nature we need to change. The nature that causes one man to pick up a gun and kill is the same nature that causes another to drill a hole in the middle of the ocean for oil, causes even another to bomb an abortion clinic or scam someone else out of their life savings. The degree to which someone acts on this nature will vary depending on how much of our life giving nature is present. Compassion, empathy, and understanding –those fluff, feel good words make a different in this life. It’s not just a nice idea to be empathetic, to have compassion, to strive for real understanding in this life, in fact, it is vital that we reclaim this nature within.

I see the effects of letting the worst of us take over the whole of us. I see the cruelty we are capable of on a daily basis. I do not mean overt cruelty like genocide, or the civilian causalities of war, or the unnecessary cruelty to animals and wildlife. I mean the covert cruelty like rationalizing everything that shouldn’t be –and somehow believing it can never change.

We need to wake up. We need to believe in our better nature. Demand from ourselves to strive for what is right, to care about others, regardless of skin color, sexual orientation, or political persuasion. Whether it has two legs or four, we should care about all creatures, because life is to be valued. Money, greed is all for nothing. You can worship money, fear it, do the unconscionable for it, but at the end of the day its just a piece a paper, a concept we give value to. If we truly want to give money a greater value than life, what are we saying about the value of life? Do we really believe life is worth less than the illusion we created? Are we really that sick in greed? This planet can provide for us if we provide for it. Right now we are taking more than we give. We are letting the worst of us rule over the best and this WILL destroy us.

I have decided from this point on I am going to cut myself off from watching, reading, or engaging in political topics. More than that, I am taking a break from keeping my fingers on the pulse of current events. I need to disengage from it for a while because I have firmly concluded, to put it frank, that it just depresses me.

I am instead going to go back to writing about topics that I feel will uplift people, give hope, and from that hope, hopefully inspire people into giving their better nature a shot at leading us all into unifying as one into better people. I still believe in human nature. I believe we have to see the ugliness in order to understand it will never serve us into the future. Everything done in greed and fear has destroyed what is good. However, it has always been compassion, empathy, and a real love for each other that has brought us through the hard times. I believe in who we are and where will are going. I know we will get it right. In my heart I could never give up, but sometimes like tonight I just get so fed up with our ugliness and wonder still, even knowing the answer, I wonder – will we ever get it right? With a sigh, and a step forward, I keep going, knowing we WILL get it right, and so I stay the course, knowing my purpose. If I at least inspire someone today then today I did something right – and that’s all I can ask because that is my better nature at work.