"Always treat people as ends in themselves, never as means to an end." – Immanuel KantThe main reason behind all of our problems – social, political, and economical – is the worthlessness of a person's humanity. We have dehumanized so many people, individual and group alike, we no longer feel bad about ourselves when we do certain things. Human relations on the personal level have become ways for us to leverage our lives materialistically.
We make friends with the smart people so they can help us pass a test. We hang out with the popular kids so they protect us from the bullies. We befriend people we don't like to call in favor later in life. We give gifts only if we know they will be returned. We don't disagree with the teachers so they can write us recommendations – for being dull and hypnotized individuals who have long lost the meaning behind authentic relationships based on trust and loyalty.
We have normalized these relations to the point where a random act of kindness surprises us. We call being nice, being flirtatious, and we call being parasitic, being normal. We have coined the phrase "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" because we don't believe that people can do things out of the goodness in their hearts.
We have normalized these relations to the point where a random act of kindness surprises us. We call being nice, being flirtatious, and we call being parasitic, being normal. We have coined the phrase "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" because we don't believe that people can do things out of the goodness in their hearts.
But we need to start believing that people can and do good deeds just for the sake of doing good deeds. We don't from relationships, help, and interact with each other for personal benefits only – and we really shouldn't. We feel for each other and we do things because of a moral backbone that has developed us as different from animals. We need to start treating people with respect and sincerity because every person, no matter how strange or different, has a life of zer own and endures pain we don't know about. We need to realize that the highest form of achievement on Earth isn't quantifiable, it's not our net worth, nor is it the number of people we know; it's how good of a person we are and how we affect others. It's how we improve the lives of our friends, and how we care for those we don't personally know.
Sure, western capitalism is a thing, but as humans, we are everything but rational (Lord Henry reference for the Oscar Wilde fans), and we don't always act in our own best interests. And that's not a bad thing, it's a human thing, (ironically). We are different from all the other species that populated this planet not only because we are curious, and logical, and scientific, and have bigger brains, but because we have different beliefs and different standards. We have ethics and we have feelings. We have compassion, and kindness, and love, and friendship – and I really don't know how much more dramatic do I need to be to get this message across.
Society needs to shift the belief/paradigm that all humans live on a greedy one-upmanship system. We are human for a reason. Own up to it.
Lots of dashes,
∞Belle
Lots of dashes,
∞Belle