http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjchmiel/1428914515/sizes/l/
where it is marked "all rights reserved" but also marked "anyone can view".
Oftentimes, it seems to me that every other human being I deal with, acts this way some, most, or all of the time.
I am again reminded of the play by Ionesco named "Rhinoceros" in which, one by one, every character but the protagonist, voluntarily turns himself into a rhinoceros, and proceeds to wrought the destruction of civilized institutions that such an animal can bring about. He was writing about the normal citizens, the everyday people, of German society in the 1930's and 40's. But it seems equally
appropriate to describe how contemporary American society can condone torture and gross human rights violations and the most outright thievery by all the people in high places.
I guess what it is, is that everybody, especially younger people, can be seduced into doing the most heinous, awful things, provided only that there is a slow, gradual introduction, in order to maintain social contact and to "get along with" the people around him.
Or, I guess what it is is that everybody else but me has their eyes firmly fixed on the past. The lesser intelligent people will be focused on yesterday, or maybe the last hour, or maybe the very last thing anyone has said to them. More intelligent people will be able to see back further. But just about everybody believes that they are looking at the future but they try entirely to expect the past, one or another item of their knowledge of the past, to repeat.
What seems to be different about my approach is first of all that I understand that time, "chronos" is synonymous with change. From a knowledge of the past, it
is very possible in many cases to reason how current events are going to impact the
future. If I see a child balancing on a book on a chair trying to reach a cookie jar
on the top of the refrigerator, I can pretty easily deduce what is likely to happen,
and I can pretty much guarantee that the result is not going to match what the child is anticipating.
just, sometimes, I get so lonely ....
