Thoughts About Humans

What a pickle we are in, as a country and even as a species.

Our parents taught us that there are two sides to every story. They were wrong.   If only we could all deeply comprehend the concept that life is not win/lose and zero-sum.

There can be many “sides” to a story. In a formal debate (as opposed to the political shows we see in every election season) one “side” is declared the winner by a jury/audience. In American politics, just like in most sports, there are two sides and when the “game” ends there is one winner.

In contrast, when a group has a discussion, many opinions can be exchanged, and there is no winner or loser - everyone wins for having learned something.

Making policy should be the result of a discussion, not a debate or a game. Why is it a game in the American system?

Is it because our system reflects the game-based, winner-loser society we live in? 

In our broader set of social norms, everywhere there are winners and losers. Success and failure is measured by power and wealth.

But (reaching back to old maxims) if we are “all in this together” and “we’re all children of God” and “nobody gets out alive” then why must we think of some people as winners and others as losers? Why do we see things as black vs. white, have vs. have-not, workers vs. lazy, other vs. us? Granted that “good” and “bad” DO exist, why is it that, once we’ve made these distinctions, those who fall on the wrong “side” stop deserving our support, love and respect?

I guess these are questions that we humans have been asking for millenia. Finding answers has been the starting point of most religions. I don’t, of course, have The Answers. They might reside in the way we have evolved, or perhaps in the way we have been taught. Or both.

But we are more than a collection of cooperating cells. Our ability to understand ourselves and our fellow Travelers distinguishes us from all other species. If we could put more thought into that sympathetic and empathic part of our souls, this planet, this realm would be a happier place.

Am I lazy and a loser for thinking this way? Perhaps. Shall we discuss?