Since writing about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and all that it implies I’ve been wandering through a treacherous loop.
One man’s god is another’s Spaghetti Monster. And they’ll kill each other over the details. I wrote pages last night about the wildly different views people can have, accepting horrible violence and expressing outrage over the sight of a nipple. Accepting clitoral circumcision and covering women’s faces. Pages, I wrote. In the end I had to just walk away. It wasn’t an effective argument for anything. It was just railing against the pitiable failings of humankind.
If human morality is so subjective and so maleable… if our very reality is subjective… how do we get above it? How do we ever advance as a species? Our technology far outstrips our wisdom in using it. We still pollute. We still kill. We still rape. We still ignore.
Apathy versus despondency.
And there’s no easy Fox News sound-bite answer… not one that works anyway. Our nature drives us to astonishingly, damnably selfish acts. Polluting. Killing. Raping. Ignoring. The Grand Solution is that we all have to try a little harder to be better people. To live closer to the Golden Rule.
Some people don’t actually know the Golden Rule. Among various iterations it looks something like this:
Do unto others as you would have done unto you.
There’s your altruistic sound bite answer. Sure looks easy. We all want to be treated like human beings. How hard could it be to just… be good to each other?
The cruel streak of Human Nature gains strength the same way our altruistic urges do. By reinforcement. If violence is rewarded, even deified, then we will seek that reward. More subtly if we remain comfortable in ignoring the plight of others then we will seek to remain comfortable. Ignoring suffering rewards us with continuing comfort.
See, if we paid attention, if we didn’t let people get away with the staggering cruelty they’ve learned they can get away with, then the blazing incandescent spotlight of public damnation would do almost the entire job for us. Nothing brings a tyrant up short like a unified front.
Unified front being the operative phrase. It only works if we’re on the same page. Which means for a time we have to shrug off the comforter and confront some ugly truths.
And we do like being comfortable.
So the tyrants continue to get away with it.
So the circle goes.
And once you’ve found yourself in this nasty little tail-biting circle of the pathetic shortcomings of humanity what do you do to keep from turning your jaded heart on the lot of them? Most of us choose to look after our own and let the rest sort themselves out. That does get us by. There is some certain amount of overflow into society as a whole, especially with global media in our hands with the Interweb. We do now have the voice to show a unified front. All it takes from here is the courage of our convictions. Looking out for our own can mean so much more. Now.
Shouldn’t be so hard, should it?
I want very much to respond to this post. It’s well put, and well thought out. It’s also frustrating to the point of madness for me, and you know how I feel about most of this.
I get so … bent out of shape, I guess you could say, about what people do to each other. And I get angry and frustrated and helpless-feeling because I can’t rush right out there and play mommy.
“Stop picking on your neighbour!” “There’s enough to go around, why are you hoarding?” “Can’t you keep your hands to yourself?” “Where does this make you better in the scheme of things?” and the old favourite: “Who died and made you god?”
The golden rule, sometimes, seems more like the Holy Grail. That fabulous, mystical chalice that will make the world right again. And it seems like such a simple, innocuous thing. Something a five year old can grasp – but more and more, I see grown-ups and governments behaving as five year olds would. Selfishly. Covetously. Like little ill-behaved brats who have a tantrum at the slightest provocation.
It makes me want to hide in my sheets. I try to do my part, but even when I smile and DO my part – I still wonder ‘will it ever end?’ Am I really doing any good? And how will I know when the tides have truly turned for the better?
And that is precisely why I shouldn’t post about stuff like this. I get moe frustrated. And confused. And I talk in circles. And I worry. And I internalize. And I hope for a better day tomorrow, because sometimes it’s depressing to look back on the news of today.
COMMENT:
i think this is a damn fine post.
and at the risk of sounding incredibly trite, here’s my suggestion: volunteer.
seriously.
i think it is the single most effective way for each person who cares to make a legitimate difference in the world. because all our moral outrage and fear and despondency combined won’t change anything.
i have volunteered my ass off since i was about 10 years old. and you know, it really makes me feel like i AM doing something. i know that my few hours a week won’t change world politics, but it WILL change some individual’s life. it really will. and that’s where change starts, for us non-world-leaders – on the person to person level.
and contrary to what i hear constantly: “but i don’t have the time!!” i would like to respond. Yes. You do. a few hours a month adds up to maybe one movie you don’t watch. or one bubble bath you miss out on. or whatever.
my apologies for coming in and taking over with my impassioned plea for volunteerism. but i’ll stick to my guns – if you don’t like the way things are going – you *CAN* do something. pick a cause you believe in and give it your time. PLEASE!! i have no more soapbox left… ;)
/end rant
xox
lola