Post by Forgotten Matt on Oct 10, 2005 11:41:12 GMT -5
I am not really sure how to begin this, except that I am an idealist.
Through all of my interactions with people, in America and now Japan, I am finding one thing that they all have in common—everyone seems to genuinely want to love. I would even be willing to say that there is no human who has never experienced love, be it for another human, an animal, or even a cause, yet this single unifying ideal which binds every human intricately to every other human is not enough to stop war, and keep one human from taking the life of another human. Viewing myself now as a student of psychology, sociology, and life, as we all are, I am finding this other “universal truth” to be more and more difficult to accept. I understand my limitations, and I know that this is not the sort of thing that can be stopped in just one lifetime, but I believe that it is the sort of thing that can be stopped in time.
We, of the earth, are all one people, and we can divide ourselves into tribes and clans, and families, and villages, and states and countries, yet in this division, it seems to me that we are losing track of what we all are, and that is that we are all people of earth. Although everyone has their own disposition, no two people can be so very different that one can look at the other and say “They are not human.” And yet, we live in a world plagued by petty squabbles and war and famine and murder, and why? To what avail? Are we not all the people of the same nation, when all is said and done? Do we not all die? What do we accomplish by fighting in our lifetime? Our lives are so quick, so brief and ephemeral that shortening the life of another can bring no good to anyone. That person could have been the wisest person to have walked this earth, and there is no way to know the truth of that person once the life has flown. And yet these atrocities occur every day.
In a nation that can feed the world, why do people die of starvation? What greed does it require for one person to say that they deserve food more than a starving man? And who’s to say that the greedy man is a bad man? Who’s to say that it’s not ignorance keeping food from the starving, and for that, there can be no judgment. And in this, I, myself, am a hypocrite. I have never seen a homeless man and taken him grocery shopping, or bought him food, or even had the thought cross my mind until this moment. And yet, should not we all think this very thought when we see a man starving? Why do we not tend to the sick in our streets?
We can all point out atrocities, and we can all grieve for the lives of others, and we should. Yet can we still grieve when we do not understand the significance of these atrocities, or make no attempt to make a difference, or change things?
I want to make a difference, and I’m not sure how to. I’m considering teaching, yet how can I honestly teach others when I feel as though everyone knows more than I do, because they have walked a different road than mine? How can I think that I have something to give to others, when there is so much that I have yet to learn? Is there any way that one person can make a difference in one lifetime, to forever change the course of the world?
There are so many religions, and so many of them clash so frequently, but few have ever put forth the sentiment of “What if we’re all right?” What if every religion has hit on something, and only through combining them all can we come up with an accurate religion? What if there is still so much left to learn that all of the religions in existence right now amount to nothing? Has no one put forth such a sentiment?
Why, if there is such a strong unifying factor, is there the need to compete; the desire to prove one’s superiority? Is it simply human nature to walk such a paradox, or is there more to it than that? Is it infinitely more complex, yet infinitely simple at the same time? If one is not religious, can one say that Jesus did exist, and that he was not the son of god, but a great influence all the same, and more than worthy of being the foundation of a religion? Can they accept that perhaps Mohammad, too, was a man as great as Jesus, yet only a man, just as the first Buddha, just as Mahatmas Gandhi? And if these people were so influential, is it possible that with men like these as historical figures that we can build upon the blocks started by these men, and perhaps end hatred for eternity?
Why do people war for space, and why do people kill, and why does overpopulation bring a sense of bloodlust to the fore, and not a sense of unity? A desire to work together to improve this earth, instead of eradicating other peoples? With a planet nearby, why does no one consider colonization of Mars as an alternative to war and death? Why do people seem content to continue dancing along the strings of history? Why must history repeat itself!? Why do people not learn from the mistakes of the past, and avert future crises, instead of waiting patiently for them to recur?
Is there any way to possibly spread this message to the rest of the world? Is there any way to change a war-torn world into a peace-loving world? Does it start with a book? Peppering the internet with manifestos? Convincing one other person to try to make a difference? Does it start with one teacher trying to tell high school seniors about peace? Does it start with one student learning from that teacher long after contact has dwindled? Is it possible to start a revolution of that scale, and with so noble a goal? Is peace even a noble goal? Is it something worth striving for, or is it best to continue to play the way that we always have, and not try to break free from the patterns into which we have fallen for so long?
And what does it take for one person to make a difference?
Through all of my interactions with people, in America and now Japan, I am finding one thing that they all have in common—everyone seems to genuinely want to love. I would even be willing to say that there is no human who has never experienced love, be it for another human, an animal, or even a cause, yet this single unifying ideal which binds every human intricately to every other human is not enough to stop war, and keep one human from taking the life of another human. Viewing myself now as a student of psychology, sociology, and life, as we all are, I am finding this other “universal truth” to be more and more difficult to accept. I understand my limitations, and I know that this is not the sort of thing that can be stopped in just one lifetime, but I believe that it is the sort of thing that can be stopped in time.
We, of the earth, are all one people, and we can divide ourselves into tribes and clans, and families, and villages, and states and countries, yet in this division, it seems to me that we are losing track of what we all are, and that is that we are all people of earth. Although everyone has their own disposition, no two people can be so very different that one can look at the other and say “They are not human.” And yet, we live in a world plagued by petty squabbles and war and famine and murder, and why? To what avail? Are we not all the people of the same nation, when all is said and done? Do we not all die? What do we accomplish by fighting in our lifetime? Our lives are so quick, so brief and ephemeral that shortening the life of another can bring no good to anyone. That person could have been the wisest person to have walked this earth, and there is no way to know the truth of that person once the life has flown. And yet these atrocities occur every day.
In a nation that can feed the world, why do people die of starvation? What greed does it require for one person to say that they deserve food more than a starving man? And who’s to say that the greedy man is a bad man? Who’s to say that it’s not ignorance keeping food from the starving, and for that, there can be no judgment. And in this, I, myself, am a hypocrite. I have never seen a homeless man and taken him grocery shopping, or bought him food, or even had the thought cross my mind until this moment. And yet, should not we all think this very thought when we see a man starving? Why do we not tend to the sick in our streets?
We can all point out atrocities, and we can all grieve for the lives of others, and we should. Yet can we still grieve when we do not understand the significance of these atrocities, or make no attempt to make a difference, or change things?
I want to make a difference, and I’m not sure how to. I’m considering teaching, yet how can I honestly teach others when I feel as though everyone knows more than I do, because they have walked a different road than mine? How can I think that I have something to give to others, when there is so much that I have yet to learn? Is there any way that one person can make a difference in one lifetime, to forever change the course of the world?
There are so many religions, and so many of them clash so frequently, but few have ever put forth the sentiment of “What if we’re all right?” What if every religion has hit on something, and only through combining them all can we come up with an accurate religion? What if there is still so much left to learn that all of the religions in existence right now amount to nothing? Has no one put forth such a sentiment?
Why, if there is such a strong unifying factor, is there the need to compete; the desire to prove one’s superiority? Is it simply human nature to walk such a paradox, or is there more to it than that? Is it infinitely more complex, yet infinitely simple at the same time? If one is not religious, can one say that Jesus did exist, and that he was not the son of god, but a great influence all the same, and more than worthy of being the foundation of a religion? Can they accept that perhaps Mohammad, too, was a man as great as Jesus, yet only a man, just as the first Buddha, just as Mahatmas Gandhi? And if these people were so influential, is it possible that with men like these as historical figures that we can build upon the blocks started by these men, and perhaps end hatred for eternity?
Why do people war for space, and why do people kill, and why does overpopulation bring a sense of bloodlust to the fore, and not a sense of unity? A desire to work together to improve this earth, instead of eradicating other peoples? With a planet nearby, why does no one consider colonization of Mars as an alternative to war and death? Why do people seem content to continue dancing along the strings of history? Why must history repeat itself!? Why do people not learn from the mistakes of the past, and avert future crises, instead of waiting patiently for them to recur?
Is there any way to possibly spread this message to the rest of the world? Is there any way to change a war-torn world into a peace-loving world? Does it start with a book? Peppering the internet with manifestos? Convincing one other person to try to make a difference? Does it start with one teacher trying to tell high school seniors about peace? Does it start with one student learning from that teacher long after contact has dwindled? Is it possible to start a revolution of that scale, and with so noble a goal? Is peace even a noble goal? Is it something worth striving for, or is it best to continue to play the way that we always have, and not try to break free from the patterns into which we have fallen for so long?
And what does it take for one person to make a difference?