Nov. 2, 2011

I'm feeling very depressed and sad today.  And stressed.  And I am extremely tired, I have not been sleeping at all well recently (which is most likely contributing to all the other feelings).  I've been thinking about the sign in the billboard above too, since this has come up this week.  I've been thinking about God, and spirituality, and religion, and politics and beliefs, and humanity.

And about how many hateful people there are in the world, willing to hurt, attack and judge, willing to force their own beliefs onto others, onto the lives of people they haven't even met, or people they are supposed to know and love.

Willing to disregard humanity, and decency, and love, and compassion, in the name of their religion, or their spirituality, or their political beliefs.  Willing to take the "human" out of suffering, while protesting in outrage it isn't about the people, it's about the politics, or it's about the ideal, or it's about the principle.

What are politics, or ideals, or principles, or religion, or spirituality, without humanity, without people?

If all the people simply disappeared from the world today, there wouldn't be any politics, ideals, principles, religion, or spirituality.  There would be no faith, love or kindness either.

And, along with the multitudes who choose hate and condemnation, there are just as many who, while they are not foaming at the mouth one way or the other, are still willing to sit back and allow those people to assault with their hatred, or their rabid fanatacism, who won't stand up and say "This is unacceptable."  Who won't choose love or compassion, preferring instead, to stay out of their path, even though to do so means tacit agreement with the actions of those they profess not to agree with.

It is this sort of behaviour that makes "good people" allow, en masse, atrocities such as Hitler and the Gestapo, or the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, or the Salem witch trials and sadistic killings.

Paranoia.  Fear.  Hate.  Not to mention a healthy dose of "There but for the Grace of God go I."

In other words, better them than me.

Better to be the torturers, the killers, than the suffering, the prey.  Better to be the horrified onlookers, gossiping and righteous, than the ones inflicted with the pain.

But someone has to stand up, and reach a hand out to those who are hurting.

Someone has to use their hand for something other than slapping someone down, their mouths for something besides spewing and/or judgment, their minds for something besides rigidly adhering to their beliefs and finding fault with others.

Someone has to be proactive as an intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual being.

"Proactive" these days is a buzzword for how much you can get done in a day.

And God forbid someone else doesn't achieve that in the tangible, measurable way most people measure their worth.

What is a human being?  How does a human being have worth?  Does one human being have more worth than another?

There is a reason we are called, "human beings", not "human doings".

Does a baby have more worth than an elderly person?

Does a parent have more worth than a person who is single and has no children?

Is a person with a family worth more than an orphan?

Is a person who works worth more than a person who doesn't?

Is a healthy person worth more than a person who is blind, or in a wheel chair, or has some other physical disability?

Is a happy person worth more than a mentally unstable person?

Is a "normal" person worth more than one with a traumatic brain injury, or a neurological disorder or disease?

Is a healthy child worth more than a child with autism?

Is a person who has led a normal, stable life worth more than one who has lived a lifetime of pain?

Is a rich person worth more than a middle class person?  Is a middle class person worth more than a poor person?  Is a rich person, a middle class person and a poor person worth more than a homeless person?

Is a heterosexual person worth more than a homosexual person?

Is a person with a stable job and a good family life worth more than a person with an addiction, who lets down and hurts everyone around them, most especially those who love them?

Is a religious or spiritual person worth more than an atheist?

Is a Christian worth more than a Buddhist?

Is a Muslim practicing jihad worth more than any other religion?

Is an American worth more than a Muslim?

Is a Canadian worth more than a Native American?

Is a child born to two parents who love each other and their child, worth more than one from a loving single parent home?  Are the two parents worth more than the single parent?

Is an adopted child worth more than a child who goes from foster home to foster home?

Is an honour roll student who lives in a wealthy, hard working family, worth more than the one who skips class, and goes home to two broken, unhealthy parents, who are unable to love themselves, each other, or their child?

Here's another question:  

What is the difference between self worth, self esteem, self respect, self regard, self integrity and self love?