I know why the world sucks
It can be overwhelming how much the world sucks. Wars, genocide, slavery, oppression, sexism, racism, violence, greed, environmental destruction… the suffering and seemingly endless pain shadows our human existence. It can all feel so senseless and unnecessary, and I often find myself staring at the ceiling wondering: “why do we scream at each other? And what does it sound like when the doves cry?”
But having a child and being exposed to kids has finally helped me to understand this mystery. I now know why the world sucks, because people suck.
I had harbored this romantic idea of the purity and innocence of children. That they are these perfect creatures with unpolluted souls unscathed by temptations and the confused emotions of adulthood. I believed their little angel like hearts where dipped in the honey of virtue and then blown into the wind of morality.
Ummmm yeah right.
Spend ten minutes watching kids play with each other and all the atrocities of the world suddenly make perfect sense. They are possessive, selfish, ferocious, extremist, aggressive, unapologetic, relentless, and covetous. They think everything belongs to them, will fight for what they want, lie to get their way, and manipulate whoever tries to thwart their intentions.
Of course there are moments of humanity, sweetness, empathy, compassion, generosity and all that jazz, but I would say it is a pretty even split. If anything, this shows me that our capacity for good is equally balanced for our capacity to be bad. This inner battle is a constant that is engrained in our psyches at birth, and will be with us until death. Some have mastered this duality better than others, and maybe that alone is the only hope?
It is as disheartening as it is comforting how the same person can be equally kind and cruel to you. Even though I love The Munch more than I love myself, I can still see in her the bipolarity that is the human condition. Just this morning The Munch got her hands dirty playing and insisted she wipe them on my shirt to clean them.
“No Munch, use your shirt to clean hands.”
“Noooooooo!!!!! Wahhhhaaaaaahhhhh! Mamma’s shirt to clean!”
“But Munch, then my shirt will be dirty. Your shirt is already dirty, use yours.”
“Mamma’s shirt to clean!!!!”
“Munch that will make Mamma sad if you wipe your hands on her shirt. Do you want Mamma to be sad?”
“Yes! Mamma cry!”
Can’t really argue with that rational.
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