If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years. - Bertrand Russell

I am not sure about the paradise part of Professor Russell's quote, but we could have a far better societies if the Cult of Resentment, the Clingers and Cultivators of resentment & perpetual Injury did not want to see you made miserable by adhering to their cultic thinking. For centuries it used to be the dominate religion of your area, sign on to the Catholic, Lutheran, or other religion and keep your mouth shut so as not to enrage the majority which is always just a mob away from purges and persecution. That Christians, of almost all flavors, (probably not Quakers) have been involved in persecution of minorities (religious, ethnic or otherwise) is one of the greatest scandals in history. The persecutions have less to do with the creed of Christians and much more to do with the will of the dominate culture or its leaders. Faith and religion is just another excuse for people (almost always men) in positions of power to exercise their will regardless of whatever they claim to believe. Where will dominates conscience, virtue is typically non-existent.

With the waning of Christianity and the rise of Statist cults like National Socialism and Communism, you no longer appeal to a better part of humanity by looking back at someone like a Christ figure, you look forward to a better future once all the wrong thinkers are silenced, compelled or killed. That last part is the easiest thing to do, especially if you can make people feel good about killing all the wrong thinkers, offensive-livers and scapegoats for your cause. Your righteousness is what matters, please set aside your questioning, thinking or disagreements. Compassion seems to be one of their first causalities in cults, the othering of your opponents frees you to treat them in the worst possible ways. So sorry friends, rather dark (like my coffee) but there is light, just hard to find at times when you see the gathering darkness.

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Humanity - good or evil? Humanity - whole or broken? Humanity - doomed or hopeful?

Good, broken & hopeful are where I tend to fall in those choices. That does not mean that many cannot choose evil and many may be attracted to a doomed course of actions, but for the majority of humanity they just want to go about their daily lives trying to provide for themselves and their families. I try not to subscribe to the the dance of opposites, there may be poles in opposition to one another, but there are many variables in-between. Shepherds, predators, rams, ewes and lambs are all in the mix. One group wants to eat all the others, that sets them part from the rest. While all may be opposed to predators, shepherds have the best chance of opposing the predators with the least amount of risk to self. Rams and ewes can protect the lambs and the rest of the flock, but often at the cost of self. Without going all The Island of Dr. Moreau, one of the real works of a shepherd is to help more of the flock as it were to join in the shepherding of others. Not everyone will respond to being treated better, some will exploit it, not all shepherds remain virtuous, that broken part can lead anyone down the path of exploiting the flock and becoming a predator in disguise. Where there is some sense of goodness, I think you can cultivate it, where there is not, you will try in vain to grow a plant out of a rock that you thought was a seed. No amount of water will change it. I'd like to think there are more seeds than rocks out there in the hearts of humanity.

We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing each other. - Luciano De Crescenzo

I hope so, I pray so, I live so. While othering is a plague on modern discourse, one should always exercise good judgment and situational awareness to your environment. If you think the wolf is the guard dog, you are toast. All dogs were once wolves, so domestication is possible. I guess I forgot to mention guard dogs are part of that mix that works with shepherds in protecting the flock. I like guard dogs, some are even more attuned to the workings of predators than the shepherd because their nature is only a few steps removed. Human-kind - be both. I try to return to that those thoughts often.

The three great essentials of happiness are: something to do, someone to love and something to hope for. - Alexander Chalmers

Amen. Happy Tuesday Digital Neighbors! I hope all of you have a great day ADD Irregulars, Refugees & Phamily!

Rainy Days in Eminence, MO