Humanity Is Doomed
A dire notion, I know. And perhaps a little melodramatic. Recent events, however, lead me to believe that human beings - at least many of them - are dangerous creatures that could self-destruct at any moment. I say this from the experience of a person who has taken several mistakes before he has (hopefully) realized not to conceal any truths when given the opportunity to come clean about something.
Out of selfish desire to preserve an imagined integrity (which obviously cannot exist when one is lying about something), I opted to repeat a mistake that I had already seen as creating major problems for me. If I am doing this in such a small scale on the cosmic stage, it is entirely believable that many other people are doing it and that it is part of a greater problem. The problem being the inability of humans to recognize their mistakes and learn from them.
We simply don't always do that. Sometimes it takes us several errors and, thus, several punishments, before we realize what we have done wrong - and keep from doing it in the future. If this, however, occurs in areas of life of a greater danger - on a global scale, involving politics, war, the environment, etc - we may be fucked. Sometimes you don't get a second chance to make a mistake. But if you're graced with any type of second chance - a chance to make things right - I hope you're smart enough to use it.
In my own personal circumstances, I have to admit that, after all I've put the offended person through, I, perhaps, don't deserve the third (or fourth) chance that I may be given. But whereas I previously believed I had truly learned my lesson about honesty, I am fairly certain that, this time, the lesson will stick. Old habits die hard, and selfish behaviors are among them. I would not call myself a habitual liar, but I have been known to spin a yarn or two when I thought that there were legitimate reasons to do so. However, the operative word there is thought - I thought there were legitimate reasons. There were not legitimate reasons. I was mistaken.
After are mistakes are made - on whatever scale they may be - we need to atone for them. I have no idea how to atone for my grievous error in judgement, but I suspect that the guilt and remorse is a strong part of that process. As I explained last night, there is no greater punishment than that which is self-inflicted. However, the greatest punishment is the knowledge that I have no right to ask for, nor expect, forgiveness.
Out of selfish desire to preserve an imagined integrity (which obviously cannot exist when one is lying about something), I opted to repeat a mistake that I had already seen as creating major problems for me. If I am doing this in such a small scale on the cosmic stage, it is entirely believable that many other people are doing it and that it is part of a greater problem. The problem being the inability of humans to recognize their mistakes and learn from them.
We simply don't always do that. Sometimes it takes us several errors and, thus, several punishments, before we realize what we have done wrong - and keep from doing it in the future. If this, however, occurs in areas of life of a greater danger - on a global scale, involving politics, war, the environment, etc - we may be fucked. Sometimes you don't get a second chance to make a mistake. But if you're graced with any type of second chance - a chance to make things right - I hope you're smart enough to use it.
In my own personal circumstances, I have to admit that, after all I've put the offended person through, I, perhaps, don't deserve the third (or fourth) chance that I may be given. But whereas I previously believed I had truly learned my lesson about honesty, I am fairly certain that, this time, the lesson will stick. Old habits die hard, and selfish behaviors are among them. I would not call myself a habitual liar, but I have been known to spin a yarn or two when I thought that there were legitimate reasons to do so. However, the operative word there is thought - I thought there were legitimate reasons. There were not legitimate reasons. I was mistaken.
After are mistakes are made - on whatever scale they may be - we need to atone for them. I have no idea how to atone for my grievous error in judgement, but I suspect that the guilt and remorse is a strong part of that process. As I explained last night, there is no greater punishment than that which is self-inflicted. However, the greatest punishment is the knowledge that I have no right to ask for, nor expect, forgiveness.
posted by Dave at 8:18:00 AM
1 Comments:
I have to say, I'm truly uplifted, like Marvin from Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. It's like you just hit me with the Point Of View Gun. -Dan
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