Two Wolves

My mother had that annoying yet irresistible gift of finding a song or maxim  that  fitted most aptly whatever  the  mood of the  moment.  if she had been of the social media age she would have been perfect creating inspirationals for humanist encouragement sites.   she was also graced with the ability to see the good in the most reprobate of people, even if it meant  delving  deep to discern it.   where she struggled to perceive  any redeeming features she would strive to find the WHY of a person.    i can still hear her berating my sister and myself "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."    "don't judge until you know a person's history."

Several conversations with friends and online brought her attitude back to me recently and reminded me of how often i fail to live up to this ideal while still knowing she was right.   A wise man in a very Good Book summed it up when he said "the good thing i want to do i don't do, but the bad thing i don't want to do is the very thing i do do"........or something like that.    there seems to be an element of split personality within us all, we want to be accepted unconditionally without disciplining ourselves to offer that same acceptance to others, there's a word for that isn't there?........oh yes.......hypocrisy !!

Social media seems to nurture an attitude of anonymity that permits us to speak in a fashion that would be unthinkable if the person were sitting across the room.  i've had to  stop reading the comments within online news or Facebook posts as it can be so distressing, so judgemental, so.......pitiless.   the thing is......it's instinctual......we all do it.......i do it.......you may have found your lip curling at the lack of punctuation and poor grammar as you've read this, unless you've seen my earlier post explaining a lack of education (3/4/15)........god bless spell checkers !!   there seems to be a dysfunctional inner part of our humanity that drives us to embrace the worst of our personality if we think we can't be implicated in it's execution.......safety in numbers or distance.

If mother had asked me the question above there would be no hesitation, "be kinder", and if allowed more than two words i would add "whether in the presence of the other or their absence."  

A battle rages within the psyche, a battle to be better......a battle to embrace the darker or brighter side of our nature....... it's a battle we must fight till our dying day........sometimes winning.......often losing......what matters is that we never, EVER cede the battle.