What hazardous games do we play? What peculiar sense of self-preservation prompts us to distance ourselves from each other, from those we care about, or have cared about, or could care about? Is this some leftover quirk of evolution, this art of acting aloof for the dual purposes of defending the vulnerable bits underneath the coarse exterior and heightening the intrigue with which our fellows view us?
And the question we really need to ask ourselves is "truly, what good does that do? What do we gain from such duality, and perhaps more importantly, where did we ever learn such a thing?"
I suppose (and my early childhood recollections seem to back this up) we learn to view our peers with fear, plagued by uncertainty and ill-at-ease lest some of them look upon us and find us inadequate in the face of their specific criteria. A criteria I know that I have failed to live up to countless times. Yet, ironically, the acceptance came for me just after I finally stopped caring how others viewed me, and became content in myself for better or for worse.
This paradox is a difficult one to adhere to, especially in the young and impressionable. Who among us can say that they have never subconsciously (and yes sometimes even consciously) altered their beliefs, their behaviors, the uttermost core of what defines them on an impulse born of their observation of another's beliefs, behaviors or otherwise attractive characteristics?!
No? Not you?
You fucking lie...
The fact is that we need each other, but rather than seeking comfort and completion in the companionship of someone who represents a missing aspect of our lives, we castigate and contemn these people out of fear for a change in our routine, for the disruption of our lives, and the potential destabilization of our comfort zones. And since this all starts at such a young age, does it not follow that the chief factor in our behavioral patterns and developmental idiosyncrasies is the single greatest influence of a person's life, the guiding force responsible for molding the foundation upon which our entire lives and belief systems will be built?!?!
I speak, of course, of the parentals.
More and more each year I see parents neglecting their children, lashing out at them with impatience and intolerance, hammering into them just how indisputably wrong it is to express beliefs or display interests which contradict one's own.
And these reprehensible views are being indiscriminately thrown around in the school systems, from the youngest ages, at our children, by our children.
The world is cancerous. Our own people destroy it so callously, just as they destroy each other, and year after year the cycle continues, belligerence begets belligerence, intolerance proves to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, and all the while we meet it stare for stare... and decease.
Quoth The Beatles: "All we need is love...
Love is all we need." And yet, heartbreakingly, it is so
very rarely what we get.
And I think it's time we changed this. But it has to start with you...
Ok, I guess I'll try to help too.
Love,
~Codaniel~