Empathy is a feeling, it's not a science. When you see someone being bullied it's possible to feel the ouch. To feel sad and angry. Sometimes to feel absolutely disgusted with someone. It's not that you are superior but you came into this world with feelings. Your feelings may be different from mine but you do have them and they speak to you.
You have also been trained to judge others, to make judgements even though you can't be sure you are right.
Feelings are not about being superior or ashamed or smart or special. You may feel these things but it doesn't guarantee you are right.
Mostly feelings enable you to question how you are feeling. And what you can do. You are not a universal police force, but you have lived here for thousands of years. To dismiss uncomfortable feelings is to give away your mind and heart to something else.
Being human doesn't grant you diamonds, certificates, applause or fame. You are one of the millions of souls who are here to do what you can for your kin. You don't have to know their name or their tribe.
It's just a chance to make the world better without acknowledgement or praise or gifts. You are more than a grain of salt.
I apologize for preaching here, but it is direct, and I am concerned whenever I read news papers and letters to the editor. It all seems like a game to out any idea as rubbish.
Power demands absolute obedience. Century after century someone wants to start a war and we must defend ourselves. Leaders will invest most either in power or nurture.
"The nature versus nurture debate in psychology deals with disagreements about the extent to which the development of traits in humans and animals reflects the relative influence of nature and nurture. It is commonly stated that psychologists have moved on from asking whether traits (or variation in traits) develop from nature or nurture, to recognize instead that both nature and nurture work together or “interact” to produce outcomes, although exactly how to view the interaction is a matter of much debate." https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-97801998283
But what if a man is given the job to save his nation from destruction. He has followers all over the world. He cannot appear weak. So he begs other nations for help. He knows the nations who are willing to send armaments are already invested in the arms industry and as time goes on he knows other industries like food and health have no money to spare.
What if loyalty is a big concern? Loyal to what and to whom?
Here's how power works. Everyone knows we must take care of this world and all its interconnected ways but we all have different opinions on what should come first. Power or nurture?
We know of different leaders in the past, like Hitler or Henry VIII had different values. We know that millions have suffered from leaders who only valued power. (To the extent they valued power, say over their love for children is not always clear).
For Hitler he set out to kill all who were Jewish, gay, injured and not useful. This is not just antisemitism. It uses antisemitism to get support from thoughtless people. People who are not in the majority, people who are trained to nurture others, people who have studied history and human behaviour. People who think, who love others. People who are not afraid of "strongmen". People who have learned history and understand that the strongman types only care how things look, not what they mean.
Violence needs ignorant actors not educated and articulate people. People whose sense of self worth is elevated by beating up or controlling someone. I remember one time I was shopping in a nursery and I heard a male voice say loudly "you're so stupid" to a quiet woman standing next to him, waiting to pay for plants and flowers. He was loud, she was silent. He kept repeating himself. I wondered how he could benefit by abusing the woman in public? Anyone who overheard might have felt embarrassed for the woman.
How can a grown man feel he has accomplished something in this outburst? How many men see that as a display of power not embarrassment? After any outburst I've had in public, I feel ashamed, but there was a time when I felt I was being strong.
There was a time when my self esteem was so low I had to display my courage/power/worth/strength by loud outbursts because I was bullied and couldn't stand up for myself. The crybaby became the bully. I was a woman too.
We live in a world that raises people to believe their worth depends on appearances and ranked social status -- white, male, able bodied, slim, well-dressed, confident. Whether we like it or not, we are all slotted in at least one category, and much print is given to articles that tell us who we are or should be.
A woman of colour who has a disability, has much courage and is very valuable in her society. But that public space we call the city, only values the money you can spend, how you look, and the amount of self-esteem you possess. Unless you witness someone being put down or hurt by letting them know you can help.
In a society that values life you are worth a lot. In a society that only values power you must stand up -- to ignore injustice and allow leaders to disrupt, murder and rape others, without consequence, you are giving the world away to despots. You are exhibiting a submission to the ideal only power matters. To allow celebrities to convince you, democracy is worth nothing. To stay silent when you witness abuse is to silence all the songs, tear apart all the art, walk away from all you love, and leave the entire world to the chance of those who only value power over others.
How? Any activity, speech or point of view that is antisemitic harms all of us humans after, prior to or during antisemitic activity.
It must be clear to anyone who studies history, peace and humanity, that hatred directed to one specific group, is harmful to all. The holocaust was devastating to Jews in Europe, it was cruelty for cruelty's sake. But more than that the holocaust destroyed a nation of people. Everyone lost because we lost a sense of who we are as thinking people. Dignity and hope was crushed.
Anne Frank was a young Jewish woman who wrote a book on her life. She didn't get to live it fully as she was in hiding until her shelter was revealed to the Nazi's.
War, hatred and violence toward a group of innocent people reveals our capacity to submit to social destruction.
It's the myth that colonialism was good for us even as it invaded other lands and called it "Discovery".
Yes our options were good then. Emigrate to America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand under the discovery myth and the myth of white supremacy.
We were taught that only the masculine gender had the power to rule the world - another myth that we were great, that capitalism was good and the purpose of woman was to look after the home, create a happy place for men to return to after a long hard day's work.
This myth included the idea that women were weak and men were strong. I believed this at first until I realized that men did not see what I saw when it was clear to me that some were being bullied and silenced and no man would listen to a woman's ideas.
I tried to copy this in my personal behaviour but couldn't. I lacked the ability to bully others consistently and to be in control a 100 per cent, to never show my feelings, to argue with everyone I met and insist I was right.
This was a mental illness I learned. To never allow anyone to shut me up. To be a success always and forever and to always win even if it meant beating up others with my mouth, silencing those who had different ideas. Consequently I jumped between dominating all conversations then silencing myself. There was no love here. There was a time I felt love was not part of being a success. It was determination.
Now I see how much of life on this planet has been destroyed by egos believing they must conquer the world. Alone. Demand obedience. Be the authority on right and wrong. Like the Nazi's, Canadian immigrants, American supremacy, Rule Britannia, right wing capitalism, Residential School for aboriginal children, Authoritarian rule, White Supremacy, misogyny, toxic masculinity, etc.
Wherever our intelligence is subjected to maintaining control, guns, weapons, laws, prisons, religions.
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/project-2025-thomas-zimmer-trump.
These two articles reveal a desire to make organizing human society into a kind of military exercise. Get rid of thinking, caring and human values, while protecting the systems that install authoritarian hierarchies without any question of who benefits. Or at least while the benefit goes only to the takers and not the givers.
It's turning the human project into a factory somewhat like Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's 1984
I have witnessed groups where fine intelligent men cave in to bullies even when they have more respect and intelligence than the bullies. Patriarchy fails to stand up for justice.
Just having listened to CBC Radio where Timothy Garton Ash talked about "Europe as an idea worth celebrating and preserving, even against all the forces acting against it right now" because it includes many nations.
Timothy Garton Ash is a speaker I can listen to easily even though his message is disturbing. His book won the 2024 Lionel Gelber Prize and he is using his prize money to buy drones for Ukraine in the war against Russia.
You are the best thing that happened to me
when I saw you I thought you were cute
then you noticed me
and made me feel worthy of love
I know this sounds syrupy
but you have lifted me up when I am down
bossed me when I needed care
talked to me when I needed assurance
invested in our children
loved our grandchildren
made me laugh
hoping the next few years
💜💜🎀🐬are as happy as today.
How do you feel? Worried, happy, sad? We humans who have the insight into many things have been tricked. The first nations realized this after contact.
Those of us who think too much may have the answer. But instead of thinking about how to benefit in terms of personal wealth what is it that disturbs or worries us.
We are not supposed to look only for personal pleasure, yes that is a start, but it's not everything.
We are communicating with the outside world through our feelings. If we've been told you think or feel too much - this is a clue.
Why is thinking a needless excess of energy? Well we commoners were trained to be useful. Workers, builders, fighters, consumers. The society we live in expects us to serve. Maybe the economy or the army or energy. Electrical, gas, social order, medicine, making babies, entertainment. All of these obvious things are measured by time and economy.
Another clue is whether you grieve, feel lost or heavy.
There is a great deal of sadness here if we are able to recognize it and not shut it out of our consciousness. I have learned not all losses are in material form.
I learned it in school when I was trying to be a success and instead walked home from school crying alone. Another girl ran up to me and passed saying "some have it worse you know". I was clearly a failure now in my own mind. I felt depressed and desperate. I had ruined my chances at success. No-one would want to be a friend now. I cried myself to sleep at night.
My father came in and asked what was wrong. I hid my face under the pillow and could not say. Could not find the words. This went on for days as I fell into a depression. And true to expectations no-one in that class wanted to speak to me.
Except one friend who had known grief.
After a decade or so I realized that the internal drive to be a success was egocentric and false. It required approval from the outside. I was shallow. Empty inside. No self esteem. My life depended on outside recognition and I did not have the skills to win awards or be a movie star.
So I swanned around looking for signs that I was a winner, that I learned how to be a success while not knowing what that was. This means I was shallow. It took several years of struggle and tears to find a way to be comfortable in myself.
Now I see that the planet is in trouble because we are looking for our own success and feeling worthless.
It's a generalization but we are pressured into believing that money and status is what we should be aiming for as we compete with others instead of uplifting and supporting others.
The public space designs ways for us to judge, dismiss and dislike others and so we destroy whatever nourishment we have invested in for status. Now there are homeless people living on the streets buying drugs to cover up their pain and self-loathing, while climate change presents more challenges which we continue to ignore.
Trying not to die
heart of our universe
dwells in how we try
waiting for the end to come
do anything but cry
start by asking why
living must produce cash
to hell with birds and bees
numerical dreams
secret schemes
killing off the other—
the last religious war
where I shall be
the only winner
my personal bank
the everlasting tank
gold plated forever
until there is nothing left
to see it.
Capital has no ego
no conscience
no sleepless nights
no children
or teachers.
The perfect bully
without conscience
or nervous connections
no skin in the game
it’s designed to play
me
no embryos no womb
greed without conscience
monarch without throne
war without peace
life without purpose
no death or rebirth
Oh heart of hope
your hope is crowned
love make you stronger yet
oh eyebrows wise beloved
beget be known be seen
be yet.
It’s not today that breaks
your heart. Your fears and tears
worry of years to come
tomorrow a game
the shame the blame
a dying flame
of polly ticks and brittle bricks.
and on
and on
and on
and on.
Heart of Hope, your hope is crowned
Love make you stronger yet!
On wise brows, beloved, renowned
Once more your strength is set
Such equal laws, by Freedom gained
Have ruled us well and long;
By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained
Your conscience shall be strong
Our fame is ancient as the days
As Ocean large and wide:
A pride that dares, and heeds not praise
A stoic silent pride
Not that false pride that dreams content
With what our past has won;
The blood a hero heart has spent
Still nerves a heroes mind
Land of hope not Glory
Children of the Free
How
can
we
hear you?
