It’s understandable that Americans are seeing their culture descend into the pits of the cutthroat, the bastard, since that’s the character of the man whom we elected (twice) to lead our country.
If you take a minute or two to watch this video on the sportsmanship exhibited by young people, however, you may walk away with a different perspective.
I caught a glimpse of this as a soccer coach about 25 years ago, when my son Jake was a considerable powerhouse when he was little. In the first game of his under-8 season, he scored all three goals in a 3-2 win over an opponent whose dominant player — Paul, as I remember — had scored both their goals. When we walked off the field, I asked Jake if he wanted to say something to Paul. As a coach and as a father, I was lucky enough to hear the brief but poignant conversation. Jake told they boy, who was clearly taking the loss rather hard, “Hey. You’re a good player.” Paul smiled, bowed his head, and replied softly, “Thanks. But you’re better than I am.”
Maybe we’re not doomed to become heartless assholes. Maybe the core humanity with which we are all born will somehow rise to the surface and move us forward.
To the reader who sent me this, I remind him of war, various forms of criminality including pardons for cash, treason, and corruption, inflation derived from ludicrous economic policies, racism, educational decline, world ridicule, and environmental collapse.
Outside of all that, I’d say you’ve hit the nail on the head.
I’d also add that “the jig is up,” as they used to say. There are far too few stupid assholes left in this nation to provide any meaningful levels of support to Trump at this point to save him from removal from office and criminal prosecution.
As a human civilization, we’ve been talking about subject for a very long time–to no avail.
Most people who consider this idea belief the problem is greed. In fact, Socrates said, “All wars are about money.”
I’m sure what Voltaire says here is true, but what’s the value in “raising oneself above the ideas of the time.”
Right now, human civilization is tottering on the brink of world fascism and environmental collapse. We need real solutions to precisely these issues.
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