Me Me MentaliTy...

I thought I would go in reverse order with this one. Read the article first, then see comments below:

May 12, 2008
In The World And In Ourselves
Feeling Fed Up With Humanity

From time to time, we may all feel fed up with humanity, whether it's from learning about what's going on around the world, or what’s going on next door. There are always situations that leave us feeling as if people are simply not capable of behaving in a way that is coming from a place of awareness. Often it seems as if people are actually geared to handle things in the worst possible way, repeatedly. At the same time, none of us wants to linger in a judgmental mood about our own species. As a result, we might tend to repress the feelings coming up as we take in the news from the world and the neighborhood.

It is natural to feel let down and disappointed when we see our fellow humans behaving in ways that are greedy, selfish, violent, or uncaring, but there are also ways to process that disappointment without sinking into despondency. As with any emotional response, we honor our feelings by feeling them fully, without judging or acting on them. Once we've done that—and we may need to do it every day, as part of our daily self-care—we can begin to consider ways that we might help the situation in which humanity finds itself.

As always, we start with ourselves, utilizing our awareness of the failings of others to renew our own commitment to be more conscious human beings. We are all capable of the best and the worst that humanity has to offer, and remembering this keeps us in check, as well as allowing us to find compassion for others. We may find ourselves feeling compelled to serve people who are suffering injustices at the hands of other people, or we may begin to speak out when we see something that we don’t think is right. Whatever the case, the only thing we can do is pledge to serve the best, rather than the worst, of what humanity has to offer, both in the world, and in ourselves.

If you have read my postings in the past, you already know how I feel about this topic. I am, almost on a daily basis, disappointed, let down, disgusted with how people treat each other. Whether its across the globe or in my neighborhood, I am saddened to see the lengths that people will go to to hurt someone else.

I think a really big part of all of this is the "me" aspect of today's society. It seems that more and more people don't care about anyone other than themselves. As long as they are getting what they want, all is good in the world. This mentality makes me sick. There is a difference between looking out for yourself to take care of yourself versus stepping on whoever you need to get what YOU want.

Anyway...

I take this posting very much to heart as I always... ALWAYS try to consider what other people are feeling throughout daily life. "Will this action hurt someone?" ... "Will this action make someone happy?".... "Will this action make me happy without hurting someone else?"... these are all questions that I ask myself on a daily basis. Perhaps if people as a whole briefly considered these questions, even if it's only for a tiny amount of time during the day, the world would be a much better place.

... but then again... that probably won't happen. Yeah... we are still screwed.