Earlier today I was looking in the mirror, looking at my eyes which have become more hollow and empty these days. Looking, it was obvious why;
I dedicated my life towards trying to make my fellow humans more empathetic, more kind, and came up short on resources. The millions of people who worked on this same thing, they are giving up. The forces of cruelty and division are persistent, and the defense has surrendered.
I don’t think we can call ourselves “human” anymore, because we are not humane.
Us, the ones so pained by the loss? We’re the canaries in the coal mine. The air has gone bad, and you can’t blame the detector for doing the job necessary. The level of cruelty today is toxic, it’s going to kill millions.
Suppose I should feel bad about it, but I fought a good fight. I tried. The species doesn’t have an interest in healing.
Now I have to get over my guilt of this simple fact; If I can quiet my heart and empathy, I could be very very rich. I’m already quite well off, but if I could just drop the pretense of any better nature within myself….. maybe I could have enough to save myself. You can’t save others if you can’t save yourself, and there is no one out there willing to save you. Compassion is dead. Kindness is obsolete. Empathy is a liability. Honor and morality are outdated, and any that cling to them are dinosaurs. Which is me, but not for long, eventually I’ll get through the block of 17 years of socialization and 20 years of directed study and indoctrination.
The question; will anyone miss that kinder world? Or will all of us with impulses towards that direction take the sensible step of either reprogramming or taking an exit? Death is so damn accessible these days, and hope is scarce.
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“Compassion is dead. Kindness is obsolete. Empathy is a liability. Honor and morality are outdated, and any that cling to them are dinosaurs”.
I guess that makes me a tuatara, eh? Much as I’m capable of setting aside my honest-to-goodness sensibilities in order to maximise profit; I just *can’t*. If for no other reason than the fact that I’d feel sick to my stomach – clichéd as that may be. I haven’t been working for the past eight months, leaving a job I’d been at for going on four years. Bureaucracy– that’s what drove me away, and keeps me from wanting to do anything corporate again. That and my boss saying: “…chain of command” ad nauseum. Told him once that I’d strangle him with said chain if he brought that up again.
We share the same thoughts on this matter. All I can say is that a “kinder” world lives on in those of us who keep it. However little we may tend to it, so it will remain. I *refuse* to let go of it entirely.
There are some people who sit at helplines all night without being paid for it and don’t mention it on their CV. Veganism and vegetarianism are on the increase. Slavery became illegal in the UK in 1833. There has been a huge drop in global poverty since 1987. Rape within marriage became illegal in the UK in 1992. Scotland banned smacking children in 2020 and now children have the same legal protection from assault as adults. Things are progressing slowly.
I feel like the Scots dropped the ball there. With children no longer terrified of going home, who’s gonna terrorise the estates?