Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Yeoman Yield 1/07/09

Only when the sense of the pain of others begins does man begin.

Yevtushenko
**************************
Hello Good Ones.

"Blessed is the man...that sitteth" not "in the seat of the scornful."

How impotent I feel, sometimes, when faced with the barbarity and cruelty of the world, when forced to look on at the agony of other living things and not be able to do anything about it.

I have, unfortunately, witnessed in my life the actions of otherwise seemingly intelligent people who thought it was great fun to torture dogs, cats, humans and other living creatures. I will spare details because I don't want to think about them. People who do those things are unaware that their sadism is a deep sickness of the soul. And if you tell them that they aren't interested.

To pass cavalierly by any creature's suffering is bad. The human thing to do is to soothe distress, heal pain, protect from danger and help not hurt.

But to laugh at another creature's suffering is the lowest form of sub-bestiality. Yes. Even animals don't do that. Laughing at a crippled man walking in the park is no worse than laughing at a crippled pigeon.

We eat animals and we use them, but safer, saner ways of doing those things can be found if anyone is willing to look for them, just as more heinous ways of hurting them can be found if anyone, from his twisted mind, wants to find them.

The troubles that infect human life do not deserve to be scorned. A grimace may mask terrible agony, or it may not, a whine may be just the tip of frozen hopes, a sharp remark may hide inexpressible desperation, a stern frown may mark great fear. We cannot judge other people's woes. What we can do is to be compassionate, attentive, sensitive and helpful.

Those who hurt and enjoy it will continue to do so until they achieve manhood.


May all good radiance shine on you today.


Vagabond Journeys

6 comments:

krissy knox said...

"A whine may be just the tip of frozen hopes." "We cannot judge other people's woes. What we can do is to be compassionate, attentive, sensitive, and helpful."

So profound.

I've learned a lot from you tonight, DB.

krissy knox :)
my main blog: Sometimes I Think
Hey Jlanders! Please post your blogs in the Directory of Blogs: from jland to blogger
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/iamkrissy

Breezy said...

I often wonder what happened in someone's life to make them turn to torturing others. I assume they have been deeply hurt in some way. It is sad that their pain wasn't dealt with by family, friends, or someone before it got so deeply rooted, that they live out that anger and pain by hurting others.

Alice said...

Hi D.B. That is a very sad fact of life and has always been. Some will never "achieve manhood" and will always be lower than any beast of evil. I can only hope they are in the minority........

DB said...

I would like to leave a remark about Breezy's comment. There is a very good point made here and it is that those who are the hurters, the torturers, the destroyers are people who harbor some desperate pain of their own that was never healed and has been turned into a need to hurt others. Thus, with no suport or encouragement, they also deserve our compassion.

Big Mark 243 said...

As I write, I am wondering what to say. So much of humor is found in the pain and suffering of others. I think that the true 'sickness' is in those who inflict the agony and misery on others.

Can't tell what shaped their mind. Why does it bring them joy, seeing the suffering of others?

Maybe it is an unfortunate part of the circle of life, that there are some malformed cells in the organism.

Ken Riches said...

It is a sad man who must attack those who are weaker than them.