Building Communities of Care, Together!
“In the end, only kindness matters.”
~Aldous Huxley, last words
We barely got out of the Covid-19 pandemic that a more serious social pandemic hit us. Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed cruelty, violence, and social unrest that highlight the myriad ways in which societies and governments create, uphold, and perpetuate systemic discrimination, abuse of power, and social inequality on a global level. These events have been heart-breaking.
How may we address this social injustice, brutality, and violence? For one, our efforts need to focus on understanding and addressing social inequality, finding peaceful ways to express diverse perspectives, while protecting the innocent, vulnerable members of our community.
We need to stay calm in the expression of our disagreement, respecting the dignity and personal worth of all members and the human and civil rights of all individuals. To stay calm outside, we need to remain vitally anchored inside, by being true to our moral compass within—the only true guide our conduct without. This equanimity is even more relevant in our present-day environment.
What can we all do?
Well, we can all look within and search our hearts to find answers to questions, such as…
Am I carrying some unaddressed anger within?
Because unaddressed anger leads to hatred over time and hatred leads to all sorts of violence. This turning the moral searchlight within should start quite early. That is, certain moral values need to be reinforced early in the childhood, at the parents’ and teachers’ behest.
What are those moral values?
Unconditional respect for humanity and all life. Unconditional respect for our brothers and sisters, regardless of caste, color and creed. Recognizing that we are all ‘human beings’ first, and ‘so and so’ next…Remembering our humanity always and in everything.
The value of sharing, cooperating, contributing, living together, respecting differences of opinion and appreciating diversity at all levels of human interaction.
Less emphasis on individualism, self-centeredness, willfulness (doing whatever one feels like doing), subordinating one’s personal interest (=greed) to the good of the society.
History teaches us that there were three main reasons for the decline of the great Roman Empire: Unrestrained pursuit of pleasure, wealth, and power—all rooted in self-centeredness. These ills have been at the base of all those societies that have tumbled. We see them at their highest in the world today.
Where can we start? Basically, we have to start all over! Education remains to be the key. The right kind of moral education. We do not need more cleverness. We need more moral understanding, more kindness, more goodwill. Out of this moral understanding and compassion will be born the unconditional respect for humanity, the love for our shared human experience.
Without personal transformation at the individual level, one sees no abiding way out of this moral morass.
As a poet put it succinctly:
The dust is on the face, my dear.
We have been cleaning the mirror!
Let’s build together systems and communities of kindness that care.
Only then, we will be able to appreciate and honor the need for social justice and create happy individuals and harmonious society.
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