“I’ve learned that
people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.”
Here’s a quote that seems universally true of human nature. What does that tell us?
If human nature were all about being compassionate and easily affected by the words and actions of others, you’d think we could develop protocols for dealing with one another a bit more smoothly.
Nope. No such luck.
And yet, doesn’t it seem correct to assume that natural selection would have favored groups of human beings that looked after one another–you know, safety in numbers and all that? The cynic quickly adds, however, that wealth and circumstances will make the final cuts in determining the genetic makeup–and perhaps the psychology–of future generations. (Where do innate instincts stop and learned traits pick up the slack anyway?)
What strikes me as frightening and ironic is that there are a fair number of ladder-climbing power-mongers in today’s world who sincerely believe that compassion and charity are signs of weakness–and these people tend to reach positions of influence, in turn becoming the worst kind of role model.
One of my fav philosophy professors, Bernard Williams, once took a look at my band-name emblazoned t-shirt and asked me, ‘What machine, exactly, do you propose we rage against?’ As usual, he caught me off guard, but I think I’ve got an answer for him now.
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