What Do We Value

03/15/2010 Human Observations
A noticeably small and under-reported news item, detailing the Sudanese practice of employing a vicious army known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), reported that more than 300 children were abducted from Uganda, Congo, and South Sudan to be sold into slavery; this in 2010! The news and airwaves are full of meaningless dribble about political posturing, celebrity drama, and economic manipulation, while innocent African children are openly and blatantly stolen from the arms of their parents, marched onto a plane, and transported presumably to Northern Sudan; to be sold into the slave market. Gossip and material gluttony are presently embraced over compassion and civilized behavior.
A small Japanese fishing town defends its right to eat and slaughter Dolphins and Whales, in their protest against the academy award winning film The Cove. Once again, tradition is preferred over civilized reason, as these mammals are cannibalized, enslaved, and mutilated. The idea of mercy appears to have become lost amidst a flurry of misguided preferences. A friend of mine put it this way: “People don’t know which way to go, so WITHOUT THINKING, they grab on to the first or the strongest concept, product, person”. And the marketing advertisers bombard us with such things relentlessly. I grew up in a time of change, our American society transitioning from one of acceptance to one of individual independence. However, the 1980’s caused a rift in American thinking, resulting in a dulling of independent thought, leaving many without interest in the ideas of individual thought and meditative consideration. The acquisition of economic comfort now guides the actions of the masses, replacing love with greed. Those with “eyes to see” must teach, by example, how our civilized society might ascend above the antiquated and mentally lazy concepts of slavery and oppression. Achievement by oppression is a clear reflection of personal weakness. An individual must learn to stand under his or her own power, living according to personal effort. This is adulthood.