Humanity Can Do Better: We Devolve into Cruelty All Too Often

Humanity Can Do Better: We Devolve into Cruelty All Too Often

I started this post sometime last year as we were far into the Arab winter and other world travesties.

2016

And here we are, a third of the way through the present year; bad stuff continues.

The particularly brutal Islamic State has been going through their hard times; many Western powers and their local allies are pounding on this recent iteration of sharia and government, headquartered in western Syria.

Syria itself is a shambles, where the regime leader Bashar Al-Assad has been attacked by many sides and more vociferously called out for crimes against humanity, including the use of toxic Sarin gas against innocents, mere children.

The Russians that are present there and back home disagree. They have their troubles.

Vladimir Putin is playing by many of his own rules.

The former Cold War powers are playing their games of influence throughout the Arab world.

Former nation-states struggle to be one: Libya, Yemen, Iraq.

Somalia has not been one place since the early 1990s, perhaps earlier. I question if it ever was really under one central government, even as a colony.

South Sudan has too much infighting. Very deadly.

Yemen is threatened by severe malnutrition and hunger, besides the wars, as is much of eastern Africa.

Thousands of refugees try to cross borders, primarily destined for Europe. Some die by drowning along the way. Some get stuck in border nations, refugee camps.

Afghanistan is still wracked by problems of governance and stability. The poor and maltreated choose to leave, which is many.

Random terrorists from central Asian nations like Kirgyzstan and Uzbekistan attack targets in Sweden and Russia; Turkey suffers terrorist blows.

Chicago has had a bad year in violence, maybe it has been the last three...

Drug gangs hurt US populations, as they do in Mexico, and most likely Brazil. All over gangs have their effects of violence and counter-violence.

Venezuela sees many violent protests, there is a shortage of everything.

Chinese boats and military controlled islands and planes threaten the seas.

North Korea shoots off missiles and cries foul.

And yet, vast swathes of the world's population seem to mend their way ahead.

Without the killing. The bloodshed and brutality.

Still, our systems of justice seem strained to prevent hard realities of forced cruelty.

Is it cruel to abort unborn fetuses? Many Americans believe so unless there is proper justification. The rest of the world has its say.

Is it cruel to mine the lands and seas of fossil fuels, depleting the natural commodities of our planet and further polluting our waters and gaseous atmospheres?

Is it cruel to deprive a billion Chinese citizens of the freedoms of the Internet and the vagaries of free expression?

Is it mean or cruel to tax the majority of citizens to subsidize the health care of the most needy and forsaken?

What is mean, lacking sympathy? What is cruel? What do we deem unfair and nasty?

How can we let the people do such wicked things in so many places?

How can we be distracted? How can we go on day after day ensconced in our own little worlds of safety, peace, and abundance?

Deny the fact of extreme privations. Cruelty. Brutality. Want. Hunger. Thirst.

We are cruel.

We have to admit: we are a cruel and unfair people, truly deep down.

We don't care enough.

Some go and do.

I can name parents, brothers-in-laws, nephews, uncles and aunts. Good hearted friends. They have gone to West Africa, South Africa, India, Cambodia, Indonesia.

Trying to make a difference.

They have.

Made stabs against cruel fates of humanity.

How to kill this beast?

Keep searching for answers, beyond our comforts of home.

Keep searching and moving, thinking and reacting.

Do what it is supposed to be done. Be kind and brave, by going outside.

Outside your home. Your neighborhood. Your city. Your country.

Go beyond.

Your native language.

Go and be like the spiritual masters that have taught you.

Go and do.

Chasing Waterfalls

    One way of talking about living in South America as I experienced it, where I have been repeatedly, is chasing waterfalls. Every time I went there I did literally visit some waterfalls in the countryside of this beautiful nation, but the greater goals behind those visits sum up those exercises.

You could say that the three times that I went there for three different reasons, I was pursuing things that are ephemeral and squishy. Not tangible. Hard to measure the success.

Then again, perhaps I found the rewards that I was looking for. Perhaps those things, those rewards or results remain to be found in the future. Perhaps they are not easily measured, but at least analyzing and discussing them may prove useful.

Thus this entry about the subject.

Chasing waterfalls is a metaphor that some people use to pursue something that is not solid, not real.

The first time I went to Chile was for the purpose to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to baptize people in Christ's name, to help reach out to anyone who would hear our message and help them repent of their sins, commit to living His principles and doctrines, and join His Church, the Restored Kingdom of God on Earth.

A waterfall? A false premise? An unattainable fantasy? A lie?

To millions who have any exposure to the message and practice of Latter-day Saints, each person has their own take. Kingdom of God filling the earth and fulfilling prophesy. Nice humanitarian type group. Pushy and pesky people looking for recruits. Greedy corporation cheating millions. Satanic cult growing by power of the adversary, contrary to Bible teachings.

Take your pick!

I fall under the first descriptions as far as my outlook and understanding. I am an advocate and active member, doing my part to make the faith succeed.

After my 22 months of dedicated service as a full time missionary there, my first stay concluded and I considered my time and efforts a success. My fourteen companions and I, nine of them from the country, plus the members and other full time missionaries that I associated with, managed to teach and serve many people, some of whom entered the waters of baptism and joined the Church.

In my five areas of assignment (and others) I can point to people who we taught and baptized, sometimes investigators that were full or part member families. We also visited large numbers of active and less active Church members, this also being an indication of success and productive interaction. We did service projects, participated in parties and celebrations and fun activities, we lifted and blessed people as we went.

On paper: a success. Mentally and emotionally, linguistically and spiritually, I left the country in October 1991 feeling like I had accomplished what I had been assigned to do.

Waterfalls visited? The national landmark Salto de Laja (twice), and Salto Reguen, a harder to find waterfall south of Mulchen, 8th Region.

A couple years later I found myself back in the familiar grounds of the 8th Region again. As a student, university level. I loved going back to my old haunts, re-finding my former brothers and sisters that I had known as an Elder, a full time servant of my faith. Now, as a part timer, so-to-speak, I went back to streets and homes that I had attempted to have a good influence on, with no specific mission as formerly assigned, but simply to see how their lives had progressed.

At least one former convert had passed away; many had moved on to other residences withing their towns, or to other cities and regions. Some had stopped attending church; some had become more activated and gone on missions themselves! Children had been born to some of them.

It was difficult to gauge the success of my personal efforts based on the lives of the people that I knew 2 to 4 years later; of course, me being one person among them for only a few months at time, that would not be the most accurate way of assessing my efforts. But as a team member, I was hoping for the overall stated objectives of people being happy and content with their lives. And I saw evidence of a great mix of happiness and frustration.

1994 waterfalls visited: Salto de Laja again (once). Some Andes side waterfalls near mountain retreats and homes, such as the Rojas river home and Pan, Jamon y Vino, 7th and 8th regions. Some waterfalls in the 9th and 10th regions, in the Lake Regions. Perhaps one on the island of Chiloe.

My last visit was 11 years after the student visit. 14 years since the original mission excursion. There was more change and evolution, obviously. Much positive and negative had occurred to those of the Concepcion Mission that I knew. I had changed a bit: I was married with two children. I had worked as a teacher, mostly teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language in California. I had earned a Masters Degree in Latin America Studies, had attended and served in a dynamic Spanish speaking branch in southern California.

I saw my old stomping grounds with new eyes. And my old ones. And through the eyes of new ones: my wife and two daughters. Change, progress, time passing and decay. The whole gamut.

More people had passed away, like a former first counselor in the foundling Santa Juana branch. More people had moved. More had gone on to serve missions. Children were adults, some of them had their own children.

Streets and neighborhoods had changed. Roads had been created where there were empty fields and trash heaps. New buildings were built where there were previous torn down institutions or shack-like hovels.

More cars abounded, the new multi-media of cell phones and computers, Internet cafes and increased technology everywhere.

My wife and I, my two daughters had positive impacts, we felt. We did what we had hoped to do, and maybe a little more. My attempts at teaching English was not  as fruitful as I had hoped.

Nor were my attempts at church re-activation. Even finding former converts proved very hard. Some, I believe, were almost erased from my memory. The town I stayed in for five months, Angol, had the magic number of seven converts that I could not finally recall who they all were...

Things slid into obscurity, ephemeral missions were hazy.

Waterfalls visited: not Salto de Laja (sorry Jen), but we took a side trip to the Andes and climbed a snowy volcano and saw some side snow-melt waterfalls in the 8th region, west of Lonqimay.

Maybe between that and Curacautin.

Chasing waterfalls.

Were there measurable results of success? A way to gauge how things were affected for six months?

Is there a method to prove what waterfalls chased (metaphorically) has resulted in?

Maybe not for years to come. Maybe not ever.

But-- sometimes worth reflecting about.

Chasing waterfalls.