Man Has Dominated Man to His Injury

Have you ever watched the news or read the paper and asked yourself, what is the world coming to? I used to read 2 - 3 newspapers a day, I watched the news religiously, even taped it when I wasn’t going to be home. Today, however, I no longer have the desire to even crack open a newspaper and I can barely watch a few minutes of the evening news.

Why? Because man has dominated man to his injury. The world is going from bad to worse. People are apathetic towards each other, hateful, intolerant and are only concerned about their own rights and well-being.

Occasionally, I scan the papers or watch the news just to see what I haven’t read on the internet. Today I came across a story in my local paper about an offensive Halloween decoration displayed by one family. The entire community felt that the display was offensive and asked the homeowners to please take it down. No deal. The local police made 3 attempts at getting it removed, even the mayor asked the homeowners to remove it.

Finally, after much unwanted attention, the family reluctantly removed the offensive figure. The homeowner said that she was “not swayed by the complainer’s personal history” and that she should, in fact, “get beyond it or you’re going to make yourself sick.” Okay, we all need to get over something and move on, but does that mean we need to be insensitive to the feelings of others?

Just because we have the right to do something, doesn’t give us the right to do it, is my humble opinion.

To illustrate, let’s say you have a friend who has a problem with alcohol and you invited him or her over to your house for a dinner party. Now you know your friend has a personal history with alcoholism, do you serve liquor or wine at your party knowing this could cause a problem for your friend? Do you feel as if your friend should get over their problem and move on? Now you are within your rights to serve alcohol in your home, but in this case, is it possible to yield to your desires, as a courtesy, and not serve alcohol this time? Sure, it would be an act of kindness.

This family, who were within their rights to decorate their home, could have extended an act of kindness to their community by not displaying a decoration that would cause hurtful feelings. In my mind, and theirs, they knew what people would think because they put a big sign next to it explaining what it was not.

Are we a society that is overly sensitive? Maybe. Could we use better judgment in the things we do and say? Sure. We don’t have to walk around on egg shells around people or be afraid of hurting someone feelings, but when in doubt, leave it out.

Stay tuned for my post on Why I Hate Halloween.