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June 28, 2005 Man is the true enemy of itself. All the while we sit and gripe and moan about totally insignificant things, the true atrocities end up out of sight, out of mind for the majority of us. Sure, there are the moments that affect us on more worldly scales but, more often we are totally ignorant of mans inhumanity to man and, worse, mans treatment of the world they live in on borrowed time. Case in point: In India there is a caste system that would be wholey intolerable to here. There are women and girls, born into their life's station, that must clean the fecal matter of more wealthy people and animals for less than a dollar a day. If they are lucky, some poor farmer may marry the young girls and take them away from that life. In parts of Asia, women are taken for granted for, well, being women. They are put into brothels and sold on the street as commodities. In Argentina, in shanty towns on the opposite part of town from the wealthiest of citizens, people are murdered daily, mistreated hourly and will never know what it feels like to take a shower or a hot meal for granted. These people are in these situations that Americans just assume only happens on television or in movies. We, even myself, are not witness to these things and, therefore, assume that it is somehow okay to act indifferent and careless. But there is something worse in this world than human suffering. That is ignoring it. Even here, where many of us still live below the poverty line, where children sleep on the street or in shelters, we have become the nation that is self-centered and afraid to give a darn. Sure, we send aid to other countries but is that enough? Do we, as citizens, take it to be a personal mission, to let our elected officials know that we want our tax dollar to help out the world? Not really. What we do is act like this world owes us something. You see it every day. I happen to work in a the service industry full time and I see the pretensiousness and lack of care for anyone but themselves. On the street I see the youth caring more about image than substance. In the military I see people more interested in what is in it for them than a sense of doing something because it is right. As a nation we may be headed down dangerous paths left and right. Making enemies with the world because we want their resources is one thing. I can not find it in my heart to forgive that crime. But it is another to shout slogans and raise voices talking of freedom when we truly do not walk in the shoes of our brothers and sisters around the globe. Years ago I had a great revelation. It was not spiritual and it was not a conspiracy theory. It was a moment of clear thought, where I really started waking up to what was around me. I stopped thinking about myself and started learning about others. The more I learned, however, the more I realized that most people do not give two shakes of a rats tail about anyone beyond arms reach. They may talk the talk, but they seem to forget that the world is not theirs to do whatever they want. All I ask is that people start realizing that the meaning of life is not to have the most toys, the biggest house, the seven-figure income. It is not about who you hang out with or how many people you know. There is no true model of how to be a person. Sure, most of us have great examples like Jesus, Dr. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Dhali Llama, Diogenes but we only hear one of their quotes or nod and say "that's nice." I am tired of letting that go. Be good to each other. Look past the surface, the politics, the race, the religion and the nonsense. Let's try to spend our lives giving because it is the right thing to do, not because it clears our conscience. No one is saying that you have to stop enjoying the fruit of your labor, just start being good by others and do not expect anything in return. Peace out. ------------ About the author: Nicholas Olson is a long-time journalist who has been a columnist at his college newspaper and is currently a military journalist. Email: nicholasjolson@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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