Not Giving Up On Humanity

A Skill that Is Painful to Learn, But Might Pay Off

There was once a joke about there being 2 types of people in the world: those who return the shopping cart to the designated space in the supermarket parking lot, and those who don’t. Those who return the shopping cart consider themselves to be part of a community and understand the collective benefit of cooperation; those who don’t are selfish morons who only care about themselves and do not give one iota of an eff about the community of which they are a part.

The point being (I think) that, whether or not you acknowledge it, you benefit from being a member of the community. The level of your willingness and/or ability to recognize that and behave accordingly is an accurate indicator of your value as a member of the human race.

In times like these, with so many people appearing to behave so badly, it’s easy to lose faith in humanity. Not only are there a significant number of bad actors in the world doing horrible, hateful, often murderous things, but the media systems in place are designed to keep us distracted by several cartoon characters acting up to get our attention, while also working to hide what is often much worse behavior by forces that we aren’t aware of and don’t think about or, if we do, we consider them the “good guys.”

Over the course of the past few months many of us have awakened to the fact that things are not what we’ve been told they are, at a core, fundamental level. And to anyone who has been awake to this for quite some time and is wondering how the hell the rest of us could have stayed asleep for so long, I apologize for not waking up sooner. It’s been a gradual awakening over the course of decades, but it’s taken until now for me to be what I consider fully awake.

I tend to avoid reddit nowadays because, in many ways, it gives me the same vibe as the dumpster fire formerly known as twitter. But I still go on from time to time and poke around. I recently came across this comment in a subreddit on a post titled “Liberals shitting on the Left reminds me of 2016,” and the person who posted it basically refers to Liberals as the apologists for the dem powers that currently be and all the horrible, corrupt, murderous shit they appear to support; then refers to the Left as those who are calling the Liberals out and are attempting to hold their elected officials to a higher standard than the ones they are currently holding themselves to. And one of the comments was this:

I get that it’s just one comment on reddit, but it’s also emblematic of how many people think. There is so much fuckery going on in those 2 paragraphs that both chaps my ass and makes me fall into a rabbit hole of despair. Luckily, I have pulled myself out of the rabbit hole and am writing this story instead.

[Fuckery: behaviors, circumstances, situations, etc., that are nonsensical, foolish, or contemptible.]

The tone of the comment is so spineless and whiny that I am overcome with an urge to smack the writer. Just smack them. Leftists are not the ones “throwing the government to Trump.” And how about that line about how we shouldn’t concern ourselves with things that are happening “in a foreign country a long way away”? What is this person, 9? They‘re’ fine saying that whatever’s happening over there is okay so long as they don’t have to live under a Trump presidency, because that might be scary for them. Well it’s not as scary as being carpet bombed into oblivion. The second paragraph would be laughable if it wasn’t so enraging: the U.S. could definitely put a stop to it if they stopped funding it. Period. End of story.

We are blessed with the internet and that is why the propagandist facade is crumbling. Lies are being told that don’t correspond with the reality that we all have access to. Even so, the U.S. media is in lockstep with the powers that be and it creates a sense of confusion, frustration and often anxiety for those of us who are no longer buying it. What the media outlets DON’T talk about sends just as loud a message as what they do talk about. Not only are we forced to deal with the relentless barrage of disinformation, propaganda and media shenanigans of public figures, including their current practice of pretending that everything is business as usual and that there’s nothing to see here, but we also have to deal with the people who believe it (and there are many of them) as well as the people who don’t believe it but want to make sure that we do.

It’s a lot. And if you’re feeling the pressure, the frustration, the rage, the despair, the disappointment and the exhaustion of speaking out for what’s right, calling out what’s wrong and supporting those who need it, I just want you to know that I’m feeling it too. And all I can say is that when I feel as if I want to just stop and give up, I remind myself that I am lucky enough to not be living under the inhumane conditions that most of our representatives are creating for a specific group of other human beings in the world right now. And I remind myself that I’m lucky to be alive, where I am, with access to food, electricity, water, shelter and my loved ones, which is a lot more than many people have who are being targeted right now.

I get why a lot of people don’t bother with standing up for what’s right. It’s a lot of work because the powers that be make it difficult. They make doing the right thing something that is bad, weak, disruptive, evil, perverted, etc. The list of pejoratives they’ll use goes on and on, but you get the idea. It’s just easier to go with the flow, ignore the unpleasantness and pretend like none of that ugly stuff really matters, if it’s even happening.

It’s easier to just leave your shopping cart in the middle of the fucking parking lot.

But I believe that good will prevail. Why do I believe this? Hell if I know. Because my formative pre-teen years were the 70s probably. Sesame Street. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Free to Be You and Me. The Golden Rule was drilled into me. I consider myself lucky that it was.

Capitalism favors bullies. But bullies are not, and never have been, invincible. Bullies are the minority. Over the course of human history, as brutal and bloody as it’s been, good has managed to prevail over evil. For all of the atrocities occurring in the world, we do not live in a state of global chaos. We haven’t destroyed ourselves, and that give me hope.

It’s up to those of us who give a shit to call out corruption, stand up to bullies, hold bad actors accountable, clean up this mess and do better. I choose to believe that we can overcome the world’s bad actors. I choose to know, in spite of what bad actors and media conglomerates tell me, that doing the right thing is a sign of strength, not weakness.

I choose to take the time to put the shopping cart into its designated spot, and I don’t feel stupid or ripped off or weak for doing so. We need to (1) stop making the mess, (2) clean up the mess we’ve made and (3) do it right from this point forward. That also means correcting the wrongs that are already in place and making them right.

Will we succeed? I believe so. But I can’t guarantee it. I’m more than willing to do the work that needs to be done, right now, to move us in the right direction and help get us there eventually.

These are just my own thoughts and how my mind works. It’s how I keep myself going and how I prevent myself from giving up and shutting down. I hope if you’ve read this story you feel a little less alone. Because we’re out there. Everywhere. We’re making ourselves heard and we’re gaining traction. And the powers that be are rightfully freaking out, and eventually they’ll feel backed into a corner, and become more dangerous than they already are, and who knows what’ll happen then. But would you rather tune it out, shut down and pretend like everything’s ok? I mean, it’s your choice, obviously.

But that’s not who I am. And I know that there are a lot of people out there like me. And I thank those people for showing me how it’s done and for keeping me going.

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