Resistance Is Necessary

I got overwhelmed the other day by all the evil out there. Should I fear:

1. My own government?
2. Elon Musk?
3. Donald Trump?
4. Oligarchs?
5. Capitalism?
6. The News Media, including FOX?
7. Christian Nationalists ?
8. White Nationalists?
9. Hackers?
10. Corporations?
11. Scammers?

Every one of them seems to want some of my peace-of-mind. It occurs to me that, if all those people exist in our society, our society must be pretty messed up, which leads me to the old-school concept of sin — not necessarily “original sin”, though I won’t rule it out.

Instead, because there’s soooo much out there that seems messed up, I want to point out a number of things that were once a place to start. These used to be norms for behavior, including my own, that we seem to not notice anymore.

Here is a brief description of each of the seven deadly sins:

Pride — An inflated sense of your self-worth, your worth to society, and your equivalence to God.

Envy — The feeling that you deserve the possessions, success, virtues, or talents of another person. Why? Because you want them. As compared to wanting what you have or who you are.

Gluttony — An excessive desire for the pleasure of eating and drinking. Mr. Musk? Mr. Besos? Mr. Zuckerberg? Buehler? Buehler? Anyone?

Lust — A selfish focus on sex or a desire to have sexual pleasure with someone other than your spouse … Mr. Trump? Jerry Falwell, Jr? Sex traffickers? The late Mr. Epstein, who knew all the big boys? Mr. Gaetz?

Yes, everyone has some lust. That’s how we survive as a species, but this is seeing everything through the sexual lens.

Anger — An excessive, improper desire to exact revenge… vs. just being angry, then dealing with the feeling.

Greed — A strong desire for possessions, especially for possessions belonging to another. This seems like all of America —at least all the America that’s on TV.

Sloth — Lack of effort in the face of a necessary task, causing it to go undone (or done badly). Laziness, especially while blaming others for it, or thinking you do so much that you deserve that million or billion dollar check.

But here’s the thing: when people combine The Deadlies.

Like “I make so much money because I’m so important”, combined with “and you’re broke because you’re not”.

Or “I’m angry all the time because somebody else got something they need but I didn’t get more”.

Or “That land, those people, those things, should be available to me anytime I want them.

Or “If you work really hard, you’ll be rich”, which is a lie, just like its opposite, “If you don’t work really hard, you deserve to be poor”.

Or, “I got mine. I don’t care that you don’t have any”.

Or “My skin color is better than yours, because God loves us best”.

Or “Whether or not I have a penis determines my value to God” and I ought to be able to use it any time I want, and if you don’t let me, there’s something wrong with you”.

If you’re doing any of these things, there’s something wrong with you and you, for the sake of the rest of the world ought to stop it.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a place to start looking at yourself. And, to whatever extent, you are responsible for it. Just saying….

Peace,

John