Viciousness

As children we generally see the world with trusting and innocent eyes. Our parents represent love and protection. Others are viewed as good for the most part and those harmful or evil characters become abstracted in our minds as monsters, boogie men or villains. When told not to talk to strangers or enter unknown vehicles, we question it and do not grasp the true horrors that can occur because we are still innocent. Ultimately, we listen to our guardians and grow cautious of the world around us, understanding the dangers on deeper levels as we age when we learn of actual tragedies. Innocence fades and stark realities face us as young adults. The world begins to exist less as a fairy tale and more as a harsh, senseless place.

The progression I just described holds true for most of us who grew up in the safe parts of well-developed countries inside the comfort of relatively loving homes. I will not deny that this process is sped up for children who live through war torn villages, crime ridden streets and oppressive societies. The point is that the world is a vicious place and it is only a matter of time before we see it as such.

I'm choosing this weighty, somber topic for fairly obvious reasons. It seems this past year has been riddled with stories of atrocious and vile acts- the chewing of a homeless man's face in Miami, the mass shootings of innocent victims in malls, theaters and schools or the violently brutal gang rape of a young woman in India. Each time one of these stories hit my news feed I would be initially stunned. The subsequent day or days would find me slightly more depressed and my heart would feel weightier in my chest, that innocent part of me thinning out ever so slightly.

I am not writing on this topic to be overly morbid or to invoke melancholy. Instead, I'd like to turn this thinking in a different direction, hopefully with a positive note underpinning it.

Understanding. I honestly believe this to be the opposing force to human viciousness. Kindness might seem the correct assumption, but before you can be kind you must understand. You must understand something in yourself, your world, your fellow human. Our cultures, societies and technology afford us this privilege and the optimist in me feels the world is nudging in this direction.

First, let us understand viciousness as best we can. The examples from this past year do not highlight a previously unknown change in human beings. Part of us has always been vicious. It is built into out natures and the world and even the universe around us. Survival has an unfortunately nasty side that requires some violence and even dominance. Survival aside, evil actions are afforded by the ability see another human being as an object or non-person which gives us the capacity to mistreat, torture or kill.

The characters in Cormac McCarthy's novels tend to be operating outside of societal structures and as such, are capable of depraved and selfish acts. The level to which we have to be violent or vicious is rapidly decreased by the strength of the structures around us. By this I mean to imply the cultures, technologies and infrastructures we live through. I'm not implying an eventual Utopian society or world. Inequities will always exist and fringe people capable of unthinkably evil acts will continue to operate.

The point I'm driving at is that we should take each one of these vicious acts and see them as what they are, a reflection of the us and the world we live in. In a lot of ways there is no avoiding this process. Even the basest and most evil events can make us understand things better. This understanding can lead to new expressions through thought, dialogue, policy, education and art which pushes the viciousness farther down in our cores. I believe our higher natures can prevail.