Love, hate and dealing with mankind……a personal note.

I have learned by hard experience that sometimes a contradiction is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes opposing forces balance each other so that neither side overwhelms the other. This is true in many ways. Fear can produce great courage and strength. Great creativity often coincides in a life filled with tragedy. Great love travels well with great loss. The freedoms touted by a democracy can be used to destroy that very democracy. It goes on and on.

I find my own contradiction in being cynical misanthrope who also has great faith. Note I did not say faith in man or in the goodness thereof.

In the cynicism I find I am usually well founded. People are basically selfish and cruel. This hardly needs a soliloquy in its defense. When one comes into contact with a new person you can rest assured they are not on your side and are probably lying. Occasionally I am wrong about someone, I look at that as a pleasant surprise and am thankful for it.  It is only in those who have chosen to find their standards in things not of this world and not according to the whims of nature and fashion that you find a real turn for the good.  If you see someone who has great faith in man, you will soon see a sorely disappointed individual.

My misanthropy I think comes from my cynicism. Or, perhaps I was born this way. I have just had a deep seated disgust with other people for as long as I can remember. I suspect there are more of us out there than you might think.

For the simple reason that I think man is basically rotten, cruel and dishonest I also expect the best of man. I know men cannot be made angels in this world so I at least expect them to behave. If left to their own devices mankind would quickly descend into anarchy. This is the reason for society and government to exist. The higher standards you hold for someone the better off they, and the society around them are. We can only look around us over the last fifty years to see the cumulative effect of the lowering of standards. You get what you pay for.

In looking back in history I find that I am not alone. From John Adams and Edmund Burke to Tolkein and Updike we see authors and leaders all torn between these seemingly irreconcilable points of view. That is that man is both evil and cruel and yet we must have faith that he can be saved. (Or at least made tolerable enough to live alongside).

I give great credit to the ability to put these ideas into words to Florence King and her works.

Still it is probably best that folks like me are in the minority. We do not share the sunny optimism of most people because we were sent to deal with cold hard reality. In short, we are here to keep it real. Some of us are not so much negative as positive. Positive that faith in the goodness of man is pure naivety. So the next time you down some naysayer who you think is just negative, remember, they may be here to keep your feet on the ground and your friends honest.

von Rum

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Manure occurs.

Every once in a while we are reminded the human race is coming up a little short. This can sometimes come in the form of blatant and monstrous wrongs. A case in point would be this year’s disastrous flooding in Burma. The government there refused outside help, and then when some did arrive often confiscated the better part of the humanitarian aide and left the victims to starve.

While most of us on a day to day basis have no such experiences we are often confronted with the basic wrongs of human life that constitute such barbaric events.

These might include an overwhelming pride, hipocracy, jealousy, unbridled lusts, greed, laziness, and anger. We all see it everyday. We try to work around it, pretend it isn’t there, and wish it away. We cannot do it though. These things are part of the lives of us all. They are part of our makeup. No wishful thinking, no positive thinking, and no smoke and mirrors view of humanity can change that. They are well and true the best evidence that original sin exists.

Hope is there. We love those who we are closest too despite these failures. Perhaps even because of them. The same shortcomings I see in a relative or friend I see magnified in myself. They may not be the same failings, but failings sure to be there.

When I look at someone with contempt who does not deserve it, when I look away rather than help, when I decide that what I want always matters most, I become what I often despise.

This is not about rum, or lack thereof. It is not politics, though it could be. It is about us all. We all fail.

There is however forgiveness. The trick is this though. If you or I or anyone else is the one who is guilty of mistreating someone we love then we, not they, are to blame. Everyone is responsible for their own actions.

Many point to the story of the Prodigal Son as the picture of forgiveness. It is, but remember this, the son repented and went home. The father did not go to the son in his filth and say “What you are doing is alright son, I forgive you.” Much about society today in America and around the world would have us believe otherwise, but it is true.

If I do not ask forgiveness, if I do not admit that I am wrong, then what right at all do I have to expect forgiveness or reconciliation? None, I have none at all.

Sometimes we are hurt by those closest to us. Those cuts are the deepest. They are also most often the most unnecessary. Learning that these things will come, and that we have to grow through them is one of the hardest lessons of all. As the man said, life ain’t always beautiful, but its a beautiful ride.

Manure occurs my friends, but if we are not willing to get out the shovel and start cleaning how can we expect to do anything but stand in the stinking pile?

Take from it all what you will,

I think I will have more of this swill.

von Rum

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