by What is it about the beast of human nature that requires many to tear down the beautiful and the good?
I believe the answer is it is easier to tear down beautiful things than to build them. Building beauty takes dedication, purpose and the help of others, while tearing down takes the trifling effort of a single person.
I believe it is more convenient to be bad than good. Being good requires caring about things beyond yourself, to volunteer your spirit for possible exploitation and to beg the same commitment from others who may not share your value system. One person with a singular bad intent can tear down empires.
A humorous story to prove the thought that being bad is easier than being good:
Hubby plays Knights of the Old Republic, a Star Wars XBox game, that allows you to become a Jedi or Sith. I’ve watched him playing because the storylines are often rather interesting, so I’ve seen his character be good and bad. One day I commented that it was taking him longer to be the “angelic” Jedi that it’s taken him to be the most evil Sith.
He turned to me and said, “The path to the Dark Side is easy.”
I told him that was enough Knights of the Old Republic for him.
Hi Carla!
That is a unique and terrific example!
So the question becomes: Who would ever want to be good if it is so hard?
I saw this in action when I was younger and working during college.
A new employee was hired. She was smart, young, and very attractive. She had a great personality. She had an air that she was going to do great things and go far because of her personality and intelligence. Her beauty was going to assist her along the way, but wasn’t going to be the basis for her future success.
A group of older women employees would always keep an eye on her. They would always make sure to take note if she every made a mistake. They’d spread gossip about her, most of it untrue. Once, I observed the older women laughing at her when she was doing a task and dropped something on the floor. It reminded me of middle school children going after each other.
She didn’t deserve the hassles she received from her senior co-workers, but soldiered on without complaint. Eventually, as the older women got to know her, they seemed to loosen up.
I know! Perhaps it’s our desire to be liked. Not many people like bad people.
I know! Perhaps it’s our desire to be liked. Not many people like bad people.
Chris — I appreciate your story! I have run into that kind of problem. I do my own work and don’t really care what others say or do but there are some people who just can’t bear to see anyone have even a parcel of success — even if they are successful and they will do anything in their power to destroy all comers. It’s unfortunate and sad. You try to ignore them but, as your story suggests, the bad will not be ignored.
Carla — The only way things move forward in society is through the work of the good and the beautiful. The ugly and the lazy do nothing but pull down and tear away. It’s a difficult thing to resolve in society because all too often the best interests of the minor good are in direct conflict with the majority bad.
I think it’s pretty simple. People always want to be given to get things and to be served. It’s disgusting how much a consumer nation we’ve become. It’s time to start innovating and experimenting across all things again. We need a new industrial revolution to get the clocks ticking again.
I think it’s pretty simple. People always want to be given to get things and to be served. It’s disgusting how much a consumer nation we’ve become. It’s time to start innovating and experimenting across all things again. We need a new industrial revolution to get the clocks ticking again.
There was a time in America, simmering, especially in the late 1800s where everyone was innovating and inventing something. It was a ripe time of imagination. Now we live in compressing dark days where to speak out of turn or to think outside the frame is disallowed and crushed.
We’ll just have to keep keeping on and not let the small minds take too much of our time. 🙂
We’ll just have to keep keeping on and not let the small minds take too much of our time. 🙂
We’ll just have to keep keeping on and not let the small minds take too much of our time. 🙂
I’ll stand with you!
😀
I’ll stand with you!
😀
I’ll stand with you!
😀
Bravo. Well said. Makes me wonder where this came from though.
Bravo. Well said. Makes me wonder where this came from though.
It came from living a life where I had to fight against bad elements to get good deeds done and then standing with my students and my friends when they were attacked by those who wished to ruin instead of create.
Hello Dave!
You have beautifully described the ugliest people! Thank you!
You are precisely right about the danger lurking in mediocre minds. Mediocrity only recognizes mediocrity while genius recognizes talent.
What mediocrity doesn’t recognize as itself gets categorized as dangerous and foul and not-of-the-being — and when those kind of minds rule all of humanity loses and that’s one reason why this country has been so much better off in the long run when we have an intellectual president instead of a mediocre one.
Hello Dave!
You have beautifully described the ugliest people! Thank you!
You are precisely right about the danger lurking in mediocre minds. Mediocrity only recognizes mediocrity while genius recognizes talent.
What mediocrity doesn’t recognize as itself gets categorized as dangerous and foul and not-of-the-being — and when those kind of minds rule all of humanity loses and that’s one reason why this country has been so much better off in the long run when we have an intellectual president instead of a mediocre one.
Absolutely! Lennon is a prime example of a genius life snuffed out by a mediocre mind and, yet, the mediocrity still lives in the shadow of the master. That’s the price of genius, though — want and jealousy and unforgiving yearning make for a dangerous combination.
I was shaken when I was reminded this week that John died two months after his 40th birthday — that was a shuddering and shocking moment to realize just how young he was.
Be sure to pop in here and post a link to you Lennon piece when it’s alive.
Super, Dave, I look forward to it!
Super, Dave, I look forward to it!
You Know You are Famous When
You know you’ve hit the Big Time on the Internet when people start clinging to you by writing about you on their blogs, sending you email and talking about you on other people’s websites without your direct intervention or knowledge.
You Know You are Famous When
You know you’ve hit the Big Time on the Internet when people start clinging to you by writing about you on their blogs, sending you email and talking about you on other people’s websites without your direct intervention or knowledge.