Some time back I made a quip in conversation, a self deprecating joke on my own attitudes about the world. I said I rode with the Lords of LaMancha. You know the land of LaMancha, that's where Don Quixote hailed from, the land of insanity, and romantic idealism. Like I said, I was basically poking fun at myself. I got a smile... warm and wise, soft and sincere... from the lady I was speaking to, I got what I wanted. She understood my intent.
In the days since I've used the phrase a time or two when I want to describe myself in only a few words. Of course, the longer the idea has been with me the more I've had to realize just what it really means. By and large I don't like society, I call myself contra-social, and yet there I claim membership in a group, a society. Dealing with individuals is no problem, each a unique human being and only a very few found truly offensive, and yet I really don't like the beast called society. Somehow it seems all the good and noble things I find in the individuals gets suppressed when those individuals are gathered into the group called society. It is a curiosity, it is. Why when you look at the individuals is there so much goodness, but when you look at the society the greater majority of that goodness is not to be seen? What is it about collecting people into groups that suppresses what is there in the individuals?
I suppose I've found my windmill, now, just where did I park that lance?
Here's a wild guess about your question about society: Most people will say (yell, rather): "Liberty and justice for all--of my needs and wants!" *lol* (If they don't say this aloud, it's behind most of what they do say.) And those who have the most power have this attitude as much if not more than most other humans, so that they easily twist the desire to help "the common good" so that "the common good" is their good.
ReplyDeleteThere are real altruists. I've met some. But their wishes to do good are so easily made to serve those who are not altruists.
Somehow this has got to change.