Doing Good in the World

Yet, there are still too many people like Trump

Each hurtful moment weighs on my mind. Each as fresh as the day it happened. Each violent punishment for a childish error, each little torture, each insult, each incident of being robbed, each fight won or lost, each job that was taken from me, each dream that was dashed, each time a loved one disrespected me, each time I failed myself, each crime I committed.

But I have noticed that I am not the only one who has the experience of growing up abused. Certainly, I am not the only one who carried that experience along with me. I have noticed that many of the meanest, most exploitative people around are those who were exploited and abused themselves. They “pay it forward”, as it were.

It seems clear that if every abused, exploited, or poverty-stricken child grew into a person who treated everyone else like they had been, the world would soon descend into a merciless hell-pit of misery and despair.

And yet…

And yet there are those who rise out of misery into magnificence. As portrayed in the movie “It ends with us”, we all have a choice to make. We each have the freedom of agency to leave it all behind. Not to forget! That is not the secret. In fact what to do is not a secret.

All the greatest moral leaders throughout history have given the same advice. And those who follow this advice become guides for the rest of us. Of course, even the best do not become perfect angels. But they do more good than bad. They spread kindness. They are loyal to their people and their principals. They honor their own words, pledges and oaths.

If they work in government, they honor the trust that has been placed in them and they work for the benefit of their constituents. They are like “The Good Samaritan” who cares as much for a stranger injured on the side of the road as he does for his own people who may be safe at home. They make choices like Alex Pretti did, trying to stop the violence and abuse they see. They work, as much as they can, for the common welfare of humanity.

They do good in the world.

What is the secret that is not really a secret? First you forgive yourself. You must come to know two things, first that humans mature slowly in life and the errors of youth can be corrected. Second, we must forgive those who have abused us, and part of that forgiveness is to see that those abusers were just like us, tortured, oppressed, and abused themselves, and to see that, given some help, they can correct their path.

The third part of the secret is to choose a selfless, humanitarian stance in your life and actions. Each of us has agency and freedom in our own choices and actions. Basically we can pay the misery forward in this world as you see Donald Trump and so many of his sycophants doing in their lives and their jobs.

Or we can ensure that the cycle of abuse and misery ends with us.