DISCLAIMER O' THE DAY: I lay no claim to original thinking. When you read my posts, you probably go "Shoot, I thought about that months, years, decades ago!"
The past week, since emerging from the fog that is Nanowrimo, I have been catching up with "reality" and sneaking in as much downtime as I possibly can. That means that I begin the day full of ideas about what I'm going to do, and it quickly devolves into sitting around looking at Occupy Wall Street videos and reading op-eds from local news outlets and the NYT. I have, most assuredly, a skewed outlook on the world. It's ever easier to seek out the sources that reinforce my extant worldview. So objectivity is probably not my strong suit.
Except for one thing. I have been blessed (cursed?) with the ability ---- no, the necessity ----- of seeing situations from multiple points of view. This is very handy when you are a writer of fiction, or else how could you ever write a believable character you don't like? It does set me up for being accused of wearing rose-colored glasses, or being an idealist, or not having any convictions. For me, it's simply how I experience the world. And when I come across something completely foreign, I find myself darting in and out on it ---- kind of like Buddy at the dog park when he's playing with a new, big dog ---- trying to figure out what angles make sense in my existing schema.
Admittedly, I often get things wrong, woefully wrong. Since I lean toward the sunny side in general, I usually don't attribute nefarious motives to people unless it's inescapable, and even then, I'm always looking for explanation. I read about murderers and white collar criminals and wonder what made them do those things, how they justify or rationalize such actions, what in their background or psyche gives rise to such hurtful behavior. So, given all this, I am completely baffled when thinking about how our society has become so seemingly cruel-hearted toward others.
I did grow up in the era of Rah Rah America, apple pie and the American dream. I was inculcated with the values that were considered to be endemic in the American Spirit, the virtues that supposedly underlay our every move, foreign and domestic. Americans were open, friendly, welcoming, generous, --- that was the image I grew up with in the 50s. So what happened?
How is it that so much of the public discourse (if you can call standing on opposite sides of a deep ravine and shouting, discourse) is concerned with how we treat other people? Isn't that what it is, or am I being simplistic and idealistic again? Don't questions of income disparity, healthcare access, affordable housing, labor and wages, education, criminal justice, civil rights, and caring for the poorest and disabled people among us, all come down to how we, as moral and responsible human beings, treat each other? The fundamental questions about life are the same at the top of the income distribution as they are at the bottom, though the outward appearances are different. The richest .01% are not exempt from the human emotions of love and loss, nor from the responsibility of giving and receiving. The poorest, incarcerated crack addict has responsibilities toward the common good as well, beginning with addressing the internal conditions that give rise to that illness and its anti-social consequences.
WE ARE ALL ONE. Nobody gets out of this alive. The CEO and the crack addict, and everyone in-between, are all riding the same train to the same destination. The longer I hang around on our little blue planet, the more I realize how finite and error-prone we are. We chase the things that don't matter and ignore the things that do.We're rightfully indignant at injustices in other countries, but yell at or hurt the people in our own homes.
My sphere of influence is limited, but I have one. So do you. So does everybody. And we are all extending that influence all day, every day. The only question is what will that influence be? Will it be only for me and mine? Only for my tribe, the people who I think are right or like me? Only for my own pleasure or comfort or self-aggrandizement? Or will I take up the responsibilities of being a person among others and offer the world my gifts of self --- the talent or money or skills that I can. I have a contract with others, not unlike the oath of a medical doctor, to cause no harm. I may not be able to make things better, but I must not make things worse.
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