january has always dragged for me. when i worked; when i was in college; when i lived at home- winter always seemed to hit full force with the cold and gray days and head colds. this january is seeming to take forever. the long global nightmare that is bushco is still here and still making chaos and destruction and heartache for millions of people around the globe. and they sneer and smirk and believe it's ok.
i guess i don't understand why so very many people have allowed the world to get into this shape. i have been really giving things some thought- vague certainly- but i have several threads going on in the gray matter and it is sometimes difficult to integrate them. i read many blogs daily and i scan the bylines and headlines and usually they are about the corruption in government or the narrow thinking of the religious sects. recently, of course, many have been about the genocide against the palestinians by the israelis. but a couple by the same author gave me pause.
i am not linking to the site because it isn't my intention to drive traffic there necessarily- if you really want to read them- email me. anyhoo, one post dealt with the disconnect of americans from the violence here in america against americans by americans. mainly inner city black on black violence and how people here don't seem to care about that but rail against the masscre in gaza. the other post was about the death of a woman who dove into frigid waters to save her grandson's dog who had fallen in- and died herself while the dog lived. the author and several commenters believed that to be stupid and that humans are above animals. or that was the gist.
i am not putting the author down at all. this person is certainly entitled to his/her opinion and writes interesting posts overall. at the very least, it got me thinking as i shoveled out my driveway- about human nature and the world at large. the animal thing, being the most recently read post, bothered me quite a bit. it bothered me because animals are sentient beings. they feel, think, problem solve, hurt, cry, express joy, communicate with us and each other-and apparently because they most often don't have opposable thumbs and many are four footed and not bipedal- and by and large, they don't speak english- they are worth less than humans. i was struck utterly speechless and i still don't know how to wrap my mind around this. this was from the same author who is pro-israel and wrote the post about how we feel nothing about our own ghetto violence here in america.
it's like a merry-go-round in my head and i am not blaming the author. i am trying to look at the big picture. we can't pick and choose which sentient beings live or die- but we do. for some reason, human nature developed in such a way that we have to be better than someone or something- whether it be america better than everyone else, or christians are better than muslims or whites are better than everyone else. i haven't figured out why. i know why whole swaths of people believe animals to be inferior- the whole judeo-christian thing. but it is also more sinister than that. i am asserting that people who find animals inferior are the ones who see other races, genders, religions, etc. as inferior. makes sense to me. and usually, when someone harms or kills weaker beings simply because they want to or for gain- it's sociopathic.
isn't it lovely that we have a governmental system throughout the globe filled with sociopaths? of course, when they are government officials- they call them 'public servants.' uh huh. but what of their followers. it also occurred to me that if the people who carry the guns and shoot off the bombs- simply didn't- people wouldn't die. are there really that many people who enjoy killing or enjoy destruction that they can't or won't simply stop? i realize it's oversimplifying but could it really be that simple? if people with concience simply stopped behaving as if they didn't have one?
luckily, for us, the concienceless sociopaths that have run our once great nation into a pit- are leaving soon. unfortunately, we have to still mark time until january 20th, 2009.
