So what do we do in the face of this onslaught of cruelty? How shall we resist the Damaged One and his damaged appointees as they rush to do as much harm as they can to those least able to defend themselves? How do we respond as they de-fund food and health programs for the elderly and the poor? What can we do as they de-fund protection of the environment and encourage waste and pollution? How do we respond to people who only know how to take and hoard and hurt other people?
We can be kind and generous. We can share what we have. We can walk lightly and lovingly on the earth. We can join with others to counter cruelty with kindness.
And as we resort to kindness, we must remember that these many acts of cruelty by our current government are sanctioned by a large percentage of our population, people who believe that being cruel to others is preferable to being kind. Many of those practitioners and supporters of cruelty claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, a champion of the poor and the disenfranchised. So why do these so-called Christians support such vehemently un-Christian leaders?
When I was in my twenties I worked at a pre-school as a teacher’s aide, and when I was in my fifties I volunteered in a day care center. Having spent thousands of hours caring for dozens of wee tykes, I assure you that though some children seem to be inherently kind and some inherently cruel, that is very rarely the case. Kindness and cruelty are learned behaviors; and children learn through observation and imitation, and persist in behaviors from which they gain something.
Recent neurological discoveries reveal that children begin to mimic their parents’ behaviors and attitudes mere moments after birth, and by the age of three, children profoundly embody the characters of their caretakers and surrounding ethos.
So let us endeavor to make our culture one of kindness in which young people thrive. Let us turn on our love lights and shine them wherever we go.
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