Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Injustice revisited

I am going to start with a quote from Leo Tolstoy’s book “A confession”, wherein he said, “The least productive attitude is that by which a person regards themselves as being a self motivated being, who exists in the world solely for the purpose of attaining the greatest possible personal well being, irrespective of the degree of suffering this may cause to others.”

How true this is. And it doesn’t matter if this attitude is adopted by individuals, companies and organizations, groups, religions, societies or by countries – the effect and the distress caused is the same. This attitude breeds arrogance, injustice, lack of compassion, racism and a general intolerance.

Tolstoy was writing in the 1870s and particularly about conditions in the Tsarist Russia of his generation but his comments fit perfectly many of the conditions experienced today by a significant number of people - just think of the conflicts and injustices between Christians and Muslims, Christians and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims, white and black peoples, Israel and Palestine, the ‘big four’ banks in Australia and the rest of the population, the Tamils and the government of Sri Lanka, the Chinese Government and the Tibetans, the minority Muslims the Uyghur people and then the Falun Gong religious sect, etc, etc, etc.

And then think of us individuals. I mean how many times have I spoken to someone in a totally uncalled for manner and said thoughtless and hurtful things? Many more times than I like to remember I’m afraid, and all to what purpose? To ‘please my ego? To save ‘face’? How puerile. But I suppose that is life – we have all done and said things we later regret all because we ignore or have forgotten the Golden Rule “Treat others the way you would like to be treated.”

No comments: