It is easy to be cynical but it isn’t helpful.
Every day we see examples of people who are selfish and don’t consider other’s needs. When this happens repeatedly we wonder if this is a problem inherent in humanity and not just this particular person. However, this doesn’t help us and it isn’t true.
We are manipulated by everyone who has their own agenda. However not everyone is selfish, and not everyone’s agenda is to hurt others. There are more good people who want and act in loving and kind ways. If this wasn’t true, we wouldn’t so clearly see the selfish and small-minded people so clearly. We would constantly expect selfishness, and we have not reached that stage.
On the whole, people act with kindness and consideration for others. Those who don’t clearly stand out for all the wrong reasons. They are targeted and rightly so because this hurtful behavior doesn’t help us build or maintain our society. We punish those who don’t deserve to be punished because we want justice and fairness. Clearly, that is not justice or fair, but we as a society would rather punish the innocent than let those who hurt others continue to hurt others.
Yes, this is what I hear you say, but the rich don’t get punished. They avoid the same or worse things that poorer people do. That is true and unfortunate. However, no one can escape their conscience. What if they don’t have a conscious? Then they have already punished themselves. Those people doubtless don’t experience loving and healthy relationships, and they never know what love feels like.
Perhaps that is the root of the problem. The people who don’t know what love feels like, hurt others because that is the only way they know how to get attention. They are incapable of happiness, so they pursue pleasure which is fleeting and unsatisfying. They look for everything to fill the gap that being at peace and loving yourself and others provides. We should feel sorry for those people, but not feel they are the majority.