I very much appreciate thoughtful and constructive feedback from those of you that follow my ideas and opinions. Whether positive or negative, I always learn something.
Here’s my response to a recent critique of my blog, “The Damage Done By Ignorance: The Public And The Police” — which focused on the scapegoating of law enforcement officers and the ongoing societal fixation with the victimization of targeted groups.
1.) Everything I do, and say, is underpinned by one inclusive assumption: Every Situation You Find Yourself In, You Are Partially Responsible For. Whether it’s crime or poverty, failure or success, you played a role in creating it; and nothing will change until you take your ownership of your part. Success and failure are not meted out fairly. Someone, somewhere, has a greater opportunity than you, to partake in society’s goodies. You can either feel resentful or competitive – your choice.
2.) There Are No Make-Ups In Life. Once you get screwed, you can’t change what happened. All you can do is grieve what happened to you, and move on. Forgiveness is simply a form of denial. All it does is keep you stuck with feelings that cry for expression.
3.) There Are No Limits To Human Kindness And Human Cruelty. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I come from the children of the Holocaust. Early in life, I had the choice of living with bitterness, hate, and revenge-fullness; or working to accept the reality of evil, and its impact on me.
4.) I Have No Capacity, As A White Man, To Get Into Your Skin And Understand What’s Happened To You. All I can do is hold myself accountable to living my core values. There is no trophy for suffering. My grandparents (and much of their generation) were emotionally and psychologically destroyed by State sponsored, anti-semitism, displacement, torture, and murder. I have grown up in the shadow of a cosmic horror show, and refuse to blame others, long gone, for what happened.
5.) There Is No Country, No Job, No Profession, Nor Any Belief System, That Has A Monopoly On Bad People. They are literally, everywhere – thank goodness, not in great numbers. All you can do, is to try and minimize their influence.
6.) Resist The Temptation To Become A Professional Hypocrite. Don’t get righteously indignant about being treated as a member of a “monolithic” group, and then, turn right around and apply the label to people you don’t agree with.
~ Morrie