The victims of the movie shooting are in my deepest thoughts and concerns. I hesitate to blog any more about the tragedy for fear of exploiting it. Yet, if I ignore it and move on with meaningless trivialities, I fear that I'm shrugging my shoulders and saying tsk tsk, life goes on. Yet of course, the latter is what we all must do at some point, because, well, life DOES go on. But not yet.
My intent is not to exploit, but to find relevance to society's task, however trite and minor my points may be.
We know we must guide society's beliefs and attitudes, and we know that to do that we must begin with ourselves. The majority of the citizens of the world are decent, caring and altruistic, with various degrees of intelligence, and most are smart enough to know 'the right thing' from 'the wrong thing'. Acting on that knowing is not always easy, but most of us make the effort to 'do the right thing'.
How do we reach those that are making the wrong choice, doing the wrong things?
Many of us say 'love', and that's a great answer. Many of us love ourselves enough to have an abundance of love for our families, our friends and neighbors, and love enough to feel good will toward strangers and whole populations we will never meet.
But love isn't enough. Our love is concentrated on protecting those around us. And we can't love the people who won't be loved, those that roam the hidden cracks of our society alone and brooding with terrible plans.
How do we reach those lost souls intent on sharing their pain and misery with others?
We don't.
It's not our job, 99.9% of us. Those who deal with mental problems and people with ill intent are hard at work doing their job of reaching and helping those individuals before they explode in our midst. Sometimes people slip through the cracks, of which there are many, and can only then be stopped by those who have the immediate opportunity.
It is up to each of us to spread benevolence, kindness, compassion, understanding, and yes, love, wherever we can. But especially toward those young ones who are coming into this confusing world of ours. And we need to go further. We need to question ourselves, our values, to see what is important in this world.
Is it really important to shop as much as we do, to own as much as we do, to fritter away our energies in pointless pursuits? "Pointless" pursuits. That does NOT include things like fun or relaxation. "Play" is not pointless, playing with our young teaches them wonderful things.
Is it really important to always rush around as we do? To waste time on the rushing and not spend it on worthwhile pursuits—spreading understanding of the finer concepts of our lives?
Sharing the joys of art and science and philosophy and spirit?
Spirit. There is great spirit afoot. Legions of wonderful people with wonderful passions are spreading their spirit. Teachers and dancers and musicians and technical wizards and writers and mothers and fathers and so many caring dedicated old souls.
The spirit must spread further. It must dissipate ignorance and superstition (I include much of 'religion' in that category—but that's another whole sermon on my part). Spirit must include all, permeate all so that pointless pursuits become pursuits of meaning, of substance.
All this idealistic meandering on my part accomplishes little for any of you. But in meditating out loud, so to speak, it sharpens my focus on what is important in my life, and sets me on a path of discovery. If we all are on similar paths, and we collaborate, what might we accomplish together?
. . .
The item below is too cheerful in appearance for this time of mourning, but the message is relevant in its own way and is indicative of past efforts to raise awareness, what the self can be.
from Batman comics — 1940s
