An Examination of Conscience

[NanceGreggs]

Sometimes the answer to a question is so simple, it somehow fails to be noticed and appreciated. People tend to over-analyze the most complicated aspects of a problem and, in so doing, fail to discern the obvious cause of the undesirable effect.

In my most humble opinion, the state we now find ourselves in – as a nation, and as global citizens – is simply matter of a lack of individual conscience.

I don’t know where our consciences have fled – or why they have been suppressed, ignored, or stomped out of existence. But the fact remains that if that part of ourselves that gives us pause to think about the impact of our actions on others, which in turn leads us to conduct ourselves accordingly, was still fully operational, we wouldn’t be where we are right now. And where we are is not a very good place.

If the CEO of a corporation who accepts millions of dollars in annual compensation had a conscience, he couldn’t sleep at night knowing his private jet, his yacht, his four private residences, and his child’s $250,000 Sweet Sixteen party meant that his hard-working employees were hardly scraping by.

If insurance adjustors who routinely dismiss healthcare claims submitted by the sick and liable-to-die without coverage had a conscience, they wouldn’t be able to apply a “DENIED” stamp to an application for life-saving treatment, and then go about their daily lives without so much as a second thought.

If bankers had a conscience, they wouldn’t talk their customers into taking on mortgages they can’t possibly afford, or loan obligations they have no hope of ever satisfying, nor extricating themselves from.

If credit card employees had a conscience, they wouldn’t rope unsuspecting consumers into believing that the payment arrangements and interest rates they’ve agreed to won’t be changed on a whim, in order to extract money from those least able to afford it.

If politicians had a conscience, they wouldn’t lie to their constituents, and misrepresent the facts in an effort to gain a “win” for their Party at the expense of a “loss” when it comes to the best interests of their fellow citizens, and their country as a whole.

If military masterminds had a conscience, they wouldn’t condone torture, no less encourage its use or actively participate in its application.

If the current crop of so-called media “journalists” had a conscience, they wouldn’t regularly edit film footage, prattle on and on about non-news stories, nor ignore the truly important news items of the day in an ongoing effort to misinform the public they allegedly serve.

If the military strategists who opine on the necessity for war and oppression had a conscience, they couldn’t watch their own children sleeping peacefully while dismissing other children being maimed, mutilated, orphaned or killed as “collateral damage” and nothing more.

If the religious zealots who harass (or worse) those who don’t share their ideology – the gays and lesbians, the abortion-providers – had a conscience, they couldn’t demean their fellow men and women, and still delude themselves that are doing God’s work.

If the right-wing fanatics who host TV and radio shows that reach wide audiences had a conscience, they wouldn’t incite divisiveness and violence, and encourage the citizenry to see their fellow Americans as worthy of scorn – and the attendant consequences thereof.

This IS, as simplistic as it may sound, the bottom line, the effect directly resultant from an oh-so-obvious cause: it is the lack of a conscience that underlies our national woes, and will lead to continued untold suffering here at home, and throughout the world.

I don’t know where this trend started – this notion that not having a conscience was something to be strived-for, applauded, encouraged – and, in the end, hailed as some kind of enviable state of being.

What I do know is that until this trend is reversed, and those willing to stand up and say this cannot stand are treated as the heroes they are, instead of the rock-the-boat dissidents they are scorned as, we are in a shitload of trouble.

This may strike some as an inappropriate message on Thanksgiving. But I, for one, think this holiday is more than an appropriate time to speak up.

Today I more than thankful for the whistleblowers, the ordinary citizens who aren’t afraid to expose the wrong-doers in their midst – the honest employees, the watchful voters, the bloggers who seek out the truth, the website posters who expose corruption – those who have a conscience and are not only unashamed of it, but take pride in it.

I am grateful to all of you out there who raised your children to have a conscience, those who encourage your friends, coworkers, fellow Americans to see their sense of conscience as something to be flaunted rather than hidden, those who fight the good fight every day not because it is popular or in vogue, but because it is people of conscience who remain, simply by virtue of being who they are, the hope of the world.

As dire as I may sound, I am actually full of optimism tonight – because I know that those of good conscience will, in the end, prevail.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Nance...

My god, woman, your words make me weep...


As dire as I may sound, I am actually full of optimism tonight – because I know that those of good conscience will, in the end, prevail.

So beautiful, so full of hope and truth are your words, especially tonight...

Thank you for letting us see them, so that we too may have hope...

K&R

:hug:

[Deja Q]

2. The Democrats need to become the party of Lincoln. The republicans never were...

http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln78.html

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Letter To Henry L. Pierce and Others" (April 6, 1859), p. 376.

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, (August 1, 1858?), p. 532.

"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." Lincoln's Cooper Institute Address, February 27, 1860.

"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them." Lincoln and the Civil War In the Diaries and Letters of John Hay selected by Tyler Dennett (New York, Da Capo Press, 1988), p. 143.

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

"Beavers build houses; but they build them in nowise differently, or better now, than they did, five thousand years ago. Ants, and honey-bees, provide food for winter; but just in the same way they did, when Solomon referred the sluggard to them as patterns of prudence. Man is not the only animal who labors; but he is the only one who improves his workmanship." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, "First Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions" (April 6, 1858), p. 437.

"...I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side." The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House by Francis B. Carpenter (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1995), p. 282. Also, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by Ward Hill Lamon (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1994), p. 91.

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VII, "Reply to New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association" (March 21, 1864), pp. 259-260. (Commentary: of course, industry and enterprise have to allow such opportunities too. It works both ways. End commentary.)

"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." Lincoln's 'House-Divided' Speech in Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858.

"Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came." Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.

"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Ottawa" (August 21, 1858), p. 27.

"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume I, "Speech on the Sub-Treasury" (in the Illinois House of Representatives, December 26, 1839), p. 178.

"Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, "Notes for a Law Lecture" (July 1, 1850?), p. 81.

"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser - in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, "Notes for a Law Lecture" (July 1, 1850?), p. 81.

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.

"What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?" Lincoln's Cooper Institute Address, February 27, 1860.

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VII, "Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland" (April 18, 1864), p. 301-302.

"There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume I, "Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois (January 27, 1838), p. 113.

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it'." Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.

"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VI, "Proclamation of Thanksgiving" (October 3, 1863), p. 497.

"There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite." Herndon's Life of Lincoln by William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik (New York, Da Capo Press, 1983), p. 354.

[Deja Q]

3. K&R number 5

[Mira]

4. On a day when I am, speaking as an American citizen, not proud or hopeful,

and dreading Tuesday's speech, your essay examining conscience is very welcome.

quote
"What I do know is that until this trend is reversed, and those willing to stand up and say this cannot stand are treated as the heroes they are, instead of the rock-the-boat dissidents they are scorned as, we are in a shitload of trouble."

I think with this sentence you strike at the heart of what is the problem with the impact the loudmouthed minority makes as they spew their slogans founded in the base ignorance of their premise.
With that sentence you underscore the importance and the value of a continuing fight, and a recognition of our value and stature in spite of the non-adoration of the non-magi.

Damn, Nancy, you did a good one.
Thanks, and maybe I stopped in at the right time to give the 5th recommendation.

[pscot]

5. I gave up on the catholic faith

when I was about 16 years old. but I've always thought that the act of confession, and the examination of conscience that ought to precede it, was a useful exercise. The idea, as I've always understood it, is to keep you from bullshitting yourself. If you're honest with yourself about your behavior and your motives, maybe some vestigial pang of conscience will keep you from the most egregious sins. Woody Allen said, "Of course we need guilt. Without it people do horrible things." A course in business ethics at Harvard is no substitute for a conscience that won't let you sleep if you fuck up.

[pundaint]

15. confession isn't a catholic invention

If fact there is darn little about any religion that cannot be found in some earlier group of people with a different mythology to support it.

[defendandprotect]

6. k i c k

[avaistheone1]

7. Good usually does overcome evil.

Thank you to the whistleblowers, the activists for good, and the people of courage who make life better for all of us.

[Better Today]

8. Dear Nance, if you truly believe that a majority in this country EVER had consciences

then you are a product of unrealistic historical slants of our history books.

I'm just thinkin' . . . lets see . . .

How much conscience did we have when we arrived on this land?

How much conscience did we have when we enslaved, misused, and abused millions of blacks, asians, irish, and more I have no doubt to build the country?

How much conscience did we have when we decided that women didn't count and blacks only sometimes counted, but then only as a fraction of person?

How much conscience did we have made women fight for the right to vote? or attend their reproductive decisions without legal issues?


Your post reads very well, but it is based on a faulty premise.

H

[NanceGreggs]

9. However ...

We no longer have slaves, nor indentured servants.

The grandchildren of abused Asians, Irish and others run corporations, improve technology, hold public office.

Blacks count as one man/one woman.

Women can vote - hell, one of them came damned close to being president.

The abovementioned - and much more - was accomplished by people of good conscience.

There is more to be done.

[Better Today]

19. Well, I think we are both right. Yes,

those things you mention are true. . .but if we really had good conscience during any of those forward moments, well there wouldn't have to be so many forward moments. In my opinion, good conscience isn't issue specific. The proof that we still have LGBT discrimination, unequal pay for equal work for women and minorities, bigotry is still rampant (though blacks may not be the primary targets anymore, seems its to be found based on race or religion/lack thereof or even the state one moved from, geez the list of things people are just generally snotty about can be very long).

You say we've lost our conscience as though there was a time in history when we had good conscience. So when was that time that we had good conscience as opposed to an issue that raised a temporary concern for a particular group???? Was it the 1950s? perhaps the 60s? There are moments when enough people decide to do the right thing on an issue, but those very same people could not be said to have all around "good conscience" or these things that you mention wouldn't be taking decades and even centuries for each issue to be resolved.

[dalaigh lllama]

23. I agree with you

For most people, a "conscience" has to be enforced with laws for the common good. If there are no laws in place to prevent unconscionable behavior, most people are easily able to justify to themselves why they "have" to own slaves, or "have" to enforce their religious beliefs on others, or "have" to participate in predatory lending.

It's always been the rare individual who stands up against what their society has traditionally condoned.

[tavalon]

28. There have always been those without conscience

and even more who just didn't care. But there have always been some, maybe far fewer, who care, and yet, progress in positive directions has continued. I think Nance is right - we may be outnumbered and yet, we continue to prevail. It often feels almost Sisyphean, but progress happens.

Edited to add: Nance is extremely knowledgeable about our checkered history. As a matter of fact, she appears to be extremely knowledgeable about everything. There are times when I suspect she may actually be God. If I'm right, you would do well not to get on her bad side, ya know?

[Better Today]

30. I disagree that "we may be outnumbered ...we continue to prevail."

If that were the case then we wouldn't be where we are regarding so many issues. People with good conscience appear to get forward motion on issues but it is usually very shallow success over the long or short term because so many of those nudged, pushed, and prodded to join it to the "right" things quit as soon as some weak, unenforced rules are put in place. Civil rights and women's rights were supposedly all fixed way back when I was in my mid-single digits, here I am turning 50 and still women are underpaid, blacks are still discriminated against (actually worse than back then if you compare the # of black men incarcerated or unemployed compared to other groups).

You can worship Nance all you want, she ain't god. And if she gets angry because I'm typing my observations, then so be it. Though from what I've ever read she isn't the kind of unreasonable, egoist that you seem to suggest she is.

[tavalon]

35. Nance an unreasonable egoist?

Wow, is that what you think I meant?

[Bette Noir]

31. Of course she's god, as are we all.

Tat tvam asi.

[tavalon]

34. Yup, I subscribe to that article of faith

Of course, then I think of Bush and I realize some of us are lesser Gods, much less in fact.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. We are a country of ignorant propagandized idiots - backwards socially

hence we still don't have nationalized health care.

We have roads, police force, fire departments, social security, medicare,
but we do not have national health care.

We also continue to be big war mongers.

[JeffR]

11. The nation is a quest, not a goal achieved. We advance or rot standing

where we are. And yes, those of good conscience will, in the end, prevail. They damned well better.

[Better Today]

20. I've yet to see proof that good conscience prevails, I fear that the idea

that good guys finish last is unfortunately the most accurate representation of reality as most of us know it.

[bridgit]

12. Then it is done. Some...they are indeed better left to their our resolve

[DonCoquixote]

13. Great as usual

The fact is, the sort of people who scream loud are often the sort whose screaming and "Deeply felt convictions" are a substitute for a conscience. The reason they scream and yell is because they do NOT want to examine themselves, which is the first step for forming a conscience. The people who brought this nation, and this world, to it's state are the people who are ready to scream, yell and bully, because not only do they not want to think, they do not want you to think. And yes, there are many on all sides of the spectrum that fit this bill, anyone with a faith that is never examined.

It will take an act of conscience to oppose any surge in Afghanistan, just like it will take an act of conscience not to take up by ball and go home come 2012. Both are sure to get the faithful of all sides screaming at you; that does not mean they must not be done.

[cliffordu]

14. I cannot, in good conscience, pass this OP by without

giving a little K&R.

Great work, Nance -

c

[pundaint]

16. I disagree with the premise - somewhat

Yes the problem is no conscience, but not in us, but in institutions we have turned our power over to. People have conscience, corporations, religions and baseball teams don't. For them it is not about forwarding the interest of humanity but about their narrowly focused agenda. That is why we can't let control pass to non-humans, as we have with religions and corporations.

[omega minimo]

17. gee thanks

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7091914&mesg_id=7094392

[jmondine]

18. "Until the Land of the Free is awake and can see/and until her conscience has been found"

Jackson Browne, For America

[The Wizard]

21. Character means doing the right thing

when no one is watching.
Unfortunately, it's the chest thumping, grand standing, blustering fools who garner all the attention and consequent rewards.
At the beginning of the Iraq invasion and occupation Robert Byrd gave a speech in the Senate in opposition to the cartel's aggressive war policy. The theme of his speech was "the truth will emerge."
We know the truth, but the political will to punish the culprits is lacking.
The unconscious have held sway since Reagan made ignorance and governance by slogan a source of pride.

[OneGrassRoot]

22. I was looking at quotes on compassion last night...

and your OP is very much in keeping with what I was thinking.

As always, thanks, Nance. :)

It seems to me we need to embrace compassion as a worthy quality, rather than one demeaned as soft and weak, before conscience will kick in. And, as another said upthread, people tend to hide behind institutions (political, corporate) in order to ignore their conscience, and sense of compassion.


Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

-- FDR

[rosesaylavee]

24. It's the individuals who have acted in good conscience

that have turned things around in the past... and here's hoping they continue to be nourished by their families and communities and encouraged to continue to help us through difficult times. It almost always takes courage to have a good conscience and is so much easier to take the money, the position, the extra helping of whatever rather than think how it will effect your neighbor, your colleague, your family member. I agree with JeffR above that this Country, this experiment is a work in progress. We don't know what our individual effect will make on our communities until our actions are concluded. Here's hoping that we individuals reading this take this to heart and do what we can to make a difference, to act in good conscience.

Very good piece Nance! It gives me hope.

[Demeter]

25. Definition of Psychopathy and/or Sociopathy

The man in the pinstriped suit.

End the Corporation as we know it! And you'd be surprised how much evil gets set back or totally ended.

[Naturyl]

26. Very true, conscience is the core issue

But it needs to go even further than this. I won't elaborate, because I lack the energy to argue extensively at the moment. Suffice it to say that developing conscience is a long path and it doesn't end with what you've outlined, although all of that is certainly a very good start.

K&R.

[BeFree]

27. Problem is...

....folks here in America don't realize how good we have it. And that it was all just handed to them. There is no feeling of responsibility for having what we have or any thought that we owe anything to anybody.

Therefore comes this lack of conscience.

We must always have optimism... we owe the future that one little thing.

[maywander]

47. Problem is ...

Americans think of themselves only as consumers, not citizens ...
in part, I agree, because they don't realize how good they have it, but more importantly, because they are in thrall to the media, the constant sight and sound of corporate propaganda on the one hand and mindless (entertainment) distractions on the other.

[Winterblues]

29. Remember what Winston Churchhill said about America

"America will always do the right thing, but only after trying everything else first"

[bertman]

32. Add to the list the average working folk who have no conscience. We are no less culpable

than the others you have rightly cited. Day in and day out I see us little guys and gals acting selfishly, deceitfully, thoughtlessly, without a care for the ultimate negative result.

We cannot blame this on the high and mighty or the right wing. It is endemic to our society. Sad to say that it may be the undoing of our experiment in democracy.

[NikolaC]

33. K&R

Thank you for this Thanksgiving message. My husband and I have talked about these same issues often. You have expressed what we have felt for so long so eloquently. Our hope is that you are right, that "those of good conscience will, in the end, prevail".

[WillyT]

36. Huge K & R !!!

First comes no conscience, then comes no shame.

:shrug:

[chervilant]

37. hmmm...

Can we consider your premise from a macro-level perspective?

Two things:

1) Anyone who's been paying attention knows that our current economic train wreck actually happened under St. Ronnie's watch. Not that capitalism as our primary economic behavior wasn't f**ed already, but Reagan's eight years in office racheted up the Corporate Megalomaniacs' hedonism to heretofore unheard of levels. And, importantly, we peons--by and large--evince the same hedonism, which is how and why we buy the wealth carrot meme that compels us to support 'capitalism,' and its oh-so-seductive profit motive.

All of the "economists" who've pontificated for the past thirty years about what should or should not be done with our economy are driven first and foremost by that same seductive profit motive described herein above, most specifically profit for those in power: those I call the Corporate Megalomaniacs, aka the Military/Industrialists. Their profit and the power imbalance thus engendered are the basic underpinnings of the social construct we call hierarchy, a construct so old and so ubiquitous, we humans haven't even begun to question its validity.

2) The more our species' dysfunctional behaviors predominate in the media and other public venues, the more we 'find Jesus'--or pretend to find him. This knee-jerk guilt response is predictable, and the contemporary manifestation of such guilt--the neo-conservatives, the fundamentalists, and the current crop of 'Republicans'--are writ larger than life, given the pervasive nature of our latter-day media and the internet. Are these christ-like people really so numerous, or do we just get to see so many of them because such a focus assuages the guilt of a multitude of media moguls?

On the other hand, perhaps liberals and progressives walk a similar path, decrying our species' lack of "individual conscience" with just the right hint of personal humility, as though we--or a chosen few of us--have a lock on virtuous conscientiousness. And, oh, if we could only get every other poor sod on the same page, wouldn't life be hunky-dory, peachy keen? Is this really how you feel, Nance?

I keep reminding myself that we're "in process" as a species--that we're maturing measurably, albeit slowly, and that we, as a species, have a tendency not to see the forest for the trees. As Firesign Theater said, "We're all bozos on this bus!" Since we cannot exit this planetary bus at the next galaxy, we must learn to live together and work together to the benefit of us all.

I would encourage you to pull back and strive for a macro-level awareness of our species' current position in our evolutionary journey. Are we still in our adolescence as a species, hedonistically focused on sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll? We tend toward concrete thinking (it's black or white, either/or), and we have trust issues about relationships, and (sadly) our own self-esteem. Still, this point in our journey is not an endpoint--more specifically, it does not have to be an endpoint, despite what the fearmongers and hatemongers tell you.

Some of us are questioning the validity of 'capitalism' as our preeminent economic behavior. We questioners are frequently vilified or belittled, but we are growing in number. We questioners know that our species 'created' economic behaviors. We questioners know that our economic behavior has evolved over centuries, and is continuing to evolve as our species overpopulates our planet, using and abusing our natural resources and each other.

Still, we are seeing some key changes in our economic behaviors that suggest a growing awareness of the drawbacks of our predominant 'capitalistic' system. We have freecycle now, throughout the United States and in some other countries. And, we are finding other ways to behave economically that do not enrich an infinitesimally small number of humans at the expense of so many millions of others. I say this is a good thing, since questioning is an important part of exploration and growthful change. I say this is a good thing, since it's more and more evident as we progress that capitalism (and--dare I hope?!--hierarchy) is becoming obsolete.

Capitalism as a failed economic behavior and rampant overpopulation do not HAVE to be our species' long-term legacy, but I think we'll have to experience a planet-wide catastrophe to change our collective fates at this point... unless we as a species can step out of our negativity box, and keep our focus on the bigger picture...

Whenever I am personally tempted to sit on my negativity pot, I recall one of my fave Gandhi quotes:

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS.

[rhett o rick]

38. Gandhi, "There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end,

they always fall." Yes, but only to be replaced by another.

[rhett o rick]

39. Happy to rec. But Nance I truly wish I was as optimistic as you are.

I will continue to fight but and am not confident as you when you say "I know that those of good conscience will, in the end, prevail." Seems to me that good has been battling evil since the beginning of time. I dont see that much progress has been made. Think of all the Vietnamese we murdered without learning a lesson. Then Iraqi's and now Afghans. And when we are exhausted the Chinese will start.

[kristopher]

40. Policing the conscience requires the use of social shaming

And, for good and ill, we have largely rejected the mindset that allows shame to be an effective tool.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

41. Thank you for this! So well written and so true! nt

[Stargazer09]

42. Thank you

You always have such an eloquent way of expressing yourself. I love reading your posts.

I wish more people in this country possessed a conscience. The world would be a better place.

[phasma ex machina]

43. Amen! The worm will turn during America's next Great Awakening. nt

[ClayZ]

44. Here I am ... crying again.

You have such way with words. I am in 100 percent agreement with you.

We have unfurled our Peace Flags that we leaned up in the corner, nearly two years ago, to campaign. We dusted off our boots. We are readying ourselves to MARCH against the wars, again.

We are getting old now. We took our children and grandchildren to march against bu$h/cheney wars. We both marched a long time ago before we knew each other, against the war in Viet Nam.

We marched door to door, with kids and grandkids for the Obama campaign.

I so hope I don't have to put on those boots. I hope he explains, on Tuesday...



Can we march against the wars again? Yes We Can!


http://www.stonesintoschools.com/

I am thankful that I have been reading your words for almost 5 years.


Edit to K and R

[dye]

45. too late to rec... but thank you

thank you again for putting together the words that need to be said at the right time!

[ezdidit]

46. Thanks, Nance!