Here in New York it seems that there is a certain arrogance that lies like a stench in the air. Perhaps these people are (and I speak here in general statements) calloused to the love of God. Perhaps they are so suspicious, so hardened, so pressured or pleasured, and self seeking that they cannot understand goodness being extended from one's heart to the heart of another being.
I mention "self seeking" because I have noticed a certain self interest, a hot pursuit for one's own gain, promotion, interests. And here again, I cannot help but wonder if it is because of the pressures of life. Furthermore, when you are among a multitude of others who are competing for that which you contend and no one else has your own interests at heart, can one help it that they are suspicious? That they view all others as their enemy, their own rival?
It would take a rare breed of person to live in that kind of environment for any length of time and not be affected. Affected either in becoming like that which he despises; resentful that what he is, as one among a million, is despised and rejected; hurt that he is shunned or raises suspicion; or even vexed by the culture itself, competing endlessly for vanity. This world is so temporal and all about me I see men grasping at nothing, clutching with all their might, emptiness.
"And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation (behavior,
ways, manner of life) of the wicked; (For that righteous man dwelling
among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to
day with their unlawful deeds.)" II Peter 2:7 & 8
Can one harness the wind in his hands and hold it forever? Or water, which seaps from one's grasp, through the crevices of his fists?
Oh, but that I could wish for, I long for, a simplicity among my fellow man when one man observed another and saw worth, or at least potential value!
1 comment:
This is a subject that occasionally surfaces, albeit in very small circles of thinkers: an awareness of one’s fellow man chasing polymorphic desires, under the banner of liberty, free-will and self-control, competing in the struggle for perceived individualism, and yet blind to the crowd that controls their every move.
“The roar of the river is mute when you go with the flow, noticeable when you stand on the bank, and deafening when you stand firm in the current.” ~E.M.
I don’t believe you are seeing ill in others, rather, as you stand firm in the current, you see and hear the maladies of the world. And yet, knowing that people cast themselves upon these pressures and temporal graspings, often voluntarily, cannot reduce the care that you feel and attempt to extend.
As Emerson wrote in his essay Considerations By The Way, “To say then, the majority are wicked, means no malice, no bad heart in the observer, but, simply, that the majority are unripe, and have not yet come to themselves, do not yet know their opinion.”
I very much appreciated your closing sentence, and truly, if men viewed one another in this light: that of looking for worth and value first, not shortcomings and weaknesses, how much less would strife and selfishness be the common experience?
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