We Are Family

With all the chaos going on in the world, with people being so divided, manipulated, and brainwashed, it’s had me thinking a lot about ethics and who gets to decide what’s the right course of action. What responsibilities do we live up to as humans? As a collective, what rules do we adhere to if we are to survive and thrive?

It appears we’re operating on subjectivity and it’s a free for all. People can make up anything and manipulate others into believing it and people become puppets. There’s widespread manipulation with a cult-like following. People are acting out of fear and have closed their minds to anything outside of what their cult is feeding them. It’s wild out there, it’s hard to believe that it’s happening and is so widespread with conspiracy theories livening up the mix for added lagniappe. People who I thought were sane and rational have gone off the deep end. And there’s no getting through to them. Actually, they’re so belligerent you are putting yourself at risk to even try.

Are there no boundaries where you can hold on to some objective truth, find common ground, and do the right thing? Many people profess that there is no truth that it’s all relative. Then how are we to function as a global society if there is nothing we can agree upon, where it’s all determined by whoever can manipulate the masses the most, or whoever gains the most power so they can dictate what they want the world to be. Isn’t that how Hitler was able to get people to do the unthinkable?

Don’t we owe it to each other to be accountable and humane? What does it mean to be a human being? We can make choices and have control over our actions, so we can determine to an extent the course of what happens in the world. Do we really like what’s happening in the world right now? Do we want more of the same? I surely don’t.

There is objective truth. We can see it with our own eyes. You’d have to be blinded or in denial and doing mental gymnastics to not see it. There are irrefutable facts. But people want to believe their own narratives that help keep them having the upper hand, where they are in control, where they gain the most at the expense of others and the earth, and can keep getting away with what they always have. They’ll do anything they have to in order to keep their power and control. It’s like whole segments of this society are a mass of narcissists and they are making crazy like mad. It’s unreal. You try to talk some sense into them and they pull out every manipulative tactic in the book. There’s no reasoning with narcissists, so what can we do?

There’s no escaping the narcissists because we all share responsibility for the planet, so the people who are aligned with the truth who still have their wits about them need to stay strong and keep doing the right things. To be humane, responsible, accountable, and ethical. What else can we do? We can keep treating one another with kindness, compassion, and respect while also maintaining ethical boundaries that support humanity and the earth. We can keep putting ourselves in others’ shoes and treating one another as we would want to be treated with empathy and caring. We can continue to strive to do no harm and keep working together to save the world and uphold the common good.

If you’ve been through any natural disaster, you know what it means to be humane. You don’t judge or condemn anyone based on their social status, gender, race, age, abilities, or sexual orientation, everyone becomes the same, you want to help anyone and everyone because you’re all in the same boat, everyone becomes the saved and savior, everyone is your family in a disaster. Well, the earth is in big trouble and we’re all affected by what others in the world are doing, so it’s time to leave all the pettiness behind and band together to save each other and the earth.

I believe we are all born with an innate ability to know when what we’re doing is harming and it is further developed during childhood; we learn about boundaries, right from wrong, and eventually can empathize with others, knowing others are equal to us and hence behave in ways that are non-harming. If we do harm, we all know that we are doing harm, even psychopaths. It just doesn’t bother the psychopath when they do harm. They can read about harm or do harm to others and there is no emotional response. It doesn’t bother them. They don’t care about harm coming to others, but they know right from wrong.

Of course, people can rationalize away their harmful behavior so they can justify their actions. They become delusional. They become entitled and believe they deserve preferential treatment. We see this in cults. A charismatic leader who claims to be doing good and helping people can become deluded, swayed by the power and control. They rationalize many harming ideas, actions, and boundary violations, exploiting, manipulating, and coercing people. I mean, look at all the de-evolution of supposedly spiritual gurus, religious leaders, or personal growth leaders into sex cultism. And look at the dictators of the world, the cults of personality.

I’m afraid we in the USA are facing even more chaos and disaster to the point of no return if we don’t wake up and do the right thing. We need to examine and question everything so we can think logically and critically about what we are supporting and how we are contributing to the world. Are we really helping or are we creating more suffering by our actions or inactions? We have to get really honest and clear about what’s real. We can say it’s all relative, it’s all in how you frame or view things, so anything goes, but is that really true? I dare say that we have boundaries, ethics, morals, and rules that help create order, that promote peace, love, harmony, and joy, which create a more humane and thriving reality.

We can create a world where everyone is revered, respected, and nurtured as a basic human right. Where people are treated equally and are free from abuse, exploitation, and harm as basic human decency. Where there is justice based on humane unbiased practices. Where the vulnerable are advocated for and protected by society as a whole. We need to do better as a society in caring for one another like other developed countries that have universal systems of care funded by the government.

The way our systems of care are big businesses creates ethical violations and exploits the sick and vulnerable. I’ve seen it firsthand as a health care worker. It sickened me and I could no longer take part in it.

If we are to save our society and the world, we need to do some serious reconfiguration and pronto. People who don’t take climate change seriously are sealing our fate. Do we want more disasters, destruction, and pandemics? If not, then we need to vote for people who will help save the environment.

I’m reading about ethics and psychology to understand it all, but some things will never make sense to me and I have to accept it. I keep wanting to help shift the world to what is beneficent for us all and end up accepting that there’s only so much I as one person can do. It will take a majority to create the change that we need. I hope more of us wake up in time. We need all the help we can get.