I have been reading some interesting books lately. Everything from psychology to philosophy of society and humans. There are also a few books I always fall back on and read periodically. While setting back and contemplating current events like several articles about Doctors of all people committing suicide due to extreme stress and trauma they witness, I had a few thoughts.
My train of thoughts lead me to how people in their own mind justify doing Immoral things. I sat back and tried to think of what could a person or a society believe to justify doing something they know is wrong. People simply label bad people doing bad things as “Evil” even if they are agnostic. But, when it comes time to label people they hold in high values such as a Doctor committing an immoral act they suddenly are at a loss of descriptive words as to why they did it. Usually it comes down to casting the “Evil” title on another party who did something to the Victim. Hell, look at my article before this. I described the employer administration as Immoral, I’ll have to read it again the word “Evil” may have come up.
I tried taking several steps back after writing the last post and tried taking a deeper look. What came to my mind was what does a person need to drive through impossible challenges in life. Only two things came to mind when I kept eliminating purposes which came from the same basic motivation. In my life I have seen people do horrendous things as well as heroic.
I will start with the “Bad”. When it came down to it people continue to fight through adversity when they hate their oppressor. Tyranny breeds a passion to survive no one can find a way to duplicate no matter how much they try. Strangely when you see adversaries in any contest competing you will notice when everything devolves the final straws of desperate people is to cast “The Others” as the “Oppressor”. This classification gives acceptance for them to commit whatever immoral act in order to triumph over what they are trying to label is Tyranny.
Now for the “Good”. People who have “Hope” or more directly “Faith” in the future, they have a strong will to survive adversity. Almost everyone I discuss this with associate what I’m saying as a belief in God when I say Faith. That’s not really my purpose of using the word “Faith” although many people who are “God Fearing” people have “Faith”. What I am using the word for more specifically is the unwavering belief there is the possibility for things to improve. Nihilism is the complete loss of “Faith”, once that is gone morality means nothing and everything becomes about self.
So if things are really this simple there are two sustainable ways a person can struggle through life. Evil people do exist, but thankfully there are very few of them statistically speaking or our world and planet would have descended into chaos long ago. Faithful people who believe they can do things to improve there situation by making choices that aren’t immoral or evil constitute the vast majority of humans. So for simplicity’s sake that would mean there are two viable ways for a person to survive, being Evil/Bad or Faithful/Good throughout there lives.
So what happens if a person is neither? This is where a think a great many of people come from who commit acts including suicide. If a person looses all faith in humanity or the thoughts there lives will ever improve they begin to question why continue. Many people whom I have talked to on the edge find a reason to give them faith again. Many times it’s family or friends they believe in and don’t want to do anything to harm. But if a person truly is pushed to the point absolutely everything is meaningless all of there reasons to continue fade into nothingness.
That is one of the things I have begun to try paying attention to more with people I have conversations with. Everyone needs a purpose, what the hell does it hurt me to talk to somebody for a few seconds to try to help. I am not saying to fix them, but if we as a society could actually talk to one another it might give people more faith things can change. Maybe if some of these Doctors simply thought of themselves as in a hopeless situation and had so many losses not only of patients but of goals and things they held dear. Many of them had extreme work hours. To me this would possibly strip them of things they needed to reassure them of progress and faith things will get better. Seemingly there social structures where shredded with no real time for friend, family or loved ones. In many cases I have read about it seemed many of them tried to replace people with things weather it be a car, vacation, house or whatever physical object it was. Ultimately that seemed to be doomed for failure as they either lost interest in the item or they simply gathered Debt which became another complication in their lives. With more Debt came the need to work more, which in turn meant less time with friends, loved ones and even children. This spiral eroded their faith or hopes of improvement and ultimately Nihilism.
Well, that’s this Grunts (Infantry) Guys 2 cents.
Let me know what you think
Joy After Trauma 