Two great notes to add to my vocabulary - sit spot and Schrödinger’s bark beetle. Don't know how I have managed without them thus far!
On the bigger front, what you say knocks on the perennial issues of free will and the loving kindness of a Supreme Being that tolerates evil. While I accept that people have less genuinely free will than is commonly supposed, we do have some and cannot wash off responsibility for all of our actions, i.e. we are not bark beetles who are in effect programmed to destroy. This applies particularly to those with power and agency. Here I am comparing the Big Men with guns and resources they can choose to use for good or for evil with children and their parents whose daily preoccupation is to put food on the table for those children. Freedom of action can be very different for different people...
Oct 31, 2023·edited Oct 31, 2023Liked by Jane Ehrenfeld
Each of us is the "hero" of our own stories. Said differently, no "bad girl" ever sees herself as bad. As a result, of course, the answer to AITBB? is usually, "no." But that doesn't mean the question has been answered objectively or accurately.
I suspect when someone asks AITBB? yeah, they probably are and either can't see it or aren't willing to accept it (because it's not their preferred narrative). I also suspect people are the bark beetle far more often, and in so many more ways, than they realize.
Beautiful and brilliant as always. And a very good reminder that I needed today. What a wise and wonderful sister you have and what a gift your words combined make for others. Thank you. You are definitely not a bark beetle.
Personally, I don't think anyone is born to do harmful things to others. (I was going to say: I don't think people are born to do evil things, but that doesn't work in the beetle analogy. I don't think animals following their innnate instincts are evil or good.) Inborn traits do play a role in people's behavior, but so do experiences. (Nature--including epigenetics--and nurture both influence behavior.) And many people (not all) can learn and change, with appropriate input.
I do agree that anger about things we cannot change will only stress us out. This includes any behavior that has already occurred. But other times, anger can inspire us to advocate for change that may be possible.
Two great notes to add to my vocabulary - sit spot and Schrödinger’s bark beetle. Don't know how I have managed without them thus far!
On the bigger front, what you say knocks on the perennial issues of free will and the loving kindness of a Supreme Being that tolerates evil. While I accept that people have less genuinely free will than is commonly supposed, we do have some and cannot wash off responsibility for all of our actions, i.e. we are not bark beetles who are in effect programmed to destroy. This applies particularly to those with power and agency. Here I am comparing the Big Men with guns and resources they can choose to use for good or for evil with children and their parents whose daily preoccupation is to put food on the table for those children. Freedom of action can be very different for different people...
Each of us is the "hero" of our own stories. Said differently, no "bad girl" ever sees herself as bad. As a result, of course, the answer to AITBB? is usually, "no." But that doesn't mean the question has been answered objectively or accurately.
I suspect when someone asks AITBB? yeah, they probably are and either can't see it or aren't willing to accept it (because it's not their preferred narrative). I also suspect people are the bark beetle far more often, and in so many more ways, than they realize.
Beautiful and brilliant as always. And a very good reminder that I needed today. What a wise and wonderful sister you have and what a gift your words combined make for others. Thank you. You are definitely not a bark beetle.
Personally, I don't think anyone is born to do harmful things to others. (I was going to say: I don't think people are born to do evil things, but that doesn't work in the beetle analogy. I don't think animals following their innnate instincts are evil or good.) Inborn traits do play a role in people's behavior, but so do experiences. (Nature--including epigenetics--and nurture both influence behavior.) And many people (not all) can learn and change, with appropriate input.
I do agree that anger about things we cannot change will only stress us out. This includes any behavior that has already occurred. But other times, anger can inspire us to advocate for change that may be possible.