I’ll remember to forget

We like to have good things to anticipate and having a healthy mind depends on it. No one likes a cynic or someone who loses hope for a good future. We use the words faith and hope interchangeably at times and so a little clarification is in order. The object of both is what we call “fortune”.

Fortune is a general word we use for expectations being met. The variations are: good fortune, fortunate, unfortunate and misfortune. Fortune tellers make a living trying to show people which one they will get. Every person has desires that vary toward different objects and when we get the desire of our heart it is considered good fortune. Of course justice is a part of it. Getting our desires rightly is important since injustices can haunt us and dilute pure enjoyment. People with a strong sense of justice have a harder time with it while there are those who can burn others without a care.

Hope is looking forward to a desire being fulfilled. When we lose hope, we try to kill the desire by thinking it is impossible, foolishness and futile. Faith is the object we depend on to bring our hopes to us in a just way. It is what we trust in to make our dreams come true.  We use faith all the time. It is synonymous with confidence.  People can put confidence in different things; gods, societies and themselves. We start by having confidence in ourselves and when things don’t go as we expected, we try to excuse the injustices away somehow by blaming it on a third party.

Religions use the terms blessed and cursed; good karma and bad; but they mean the same thing. When things don’t go well whether it comes from individuals or circumstances, there has to be a third party that brings it back to justice. They might say that bad things happen because we did something wrong in a past life since we haven’t done anything wrong in this one. Maybe we made God mad in some way such as a past offense. It might  be that good things might come to us because we did something right that pleased God or karma. But we have to admit that bad people do get good things and good people get bad so life seems unfair. We also apply these ideas toward the future and if we don’t get what is just, good or bad in this life, maybe we will pay in the next life be it heaven or on the earth. Religions expand on this and add actions we can do to insure that all injustices are paid for so good fortune is guaranteed to come to us both in this life and the next. Some capitalize on it further and get people convinced that by giving to them, a person will receive a blessing. But this is an infinite progression that has no starting point or end. What is sufficient and what is excessive? We wrestle with this within ourselves sometimes trying to compensate for our past and create hope for the future.

Having a rational mind is a gift from God. It is where we make the highest connection with him and with each other. The reality is that we can’t undo the past. We can make plans for the future but never really know what will happen. The best thing to pray for is wisdom. There is an arena we access when our mind is settled without the noise of pressing needs and injustices. Our creativity meets his. We have the greatest ideas when we are at peace. Instead of asking for things to be moved with the focus on shuffling obstacles around, it is better to ask for confidence to work with what comes our way gracefully. Those of us with forceful passions have to come to terms with this early yet have to constantly work on it. Tantrums and fretting, work contrary to getting what we want. We tend to think that outside of passion there is only apathy. But the true definition of good fortune is to be confident and at peace so we can enjoy life.

We shouldn’t lose hope, but expect good fortune; staying confident the wisdom will present itself to deal with the misfortunes that may present themselves. This is what is meant by living in the moment without anxiety. Our time on earth is short and shouldn’t be wasted with fretting and anxiety. So the only thing concerning the future that should be in our present is hope; the confidence that our heart will remain settled on the constants of love while our mind will access the wisdom to deal with whatever comes our way.. This has application to career, family and life in general.

I’m a man full of hope

Thought I would get a tan to impress you

There once was a young man

When we think of justice, we think of righting wrongs by punishment. The word merit gives us the idea of getting benefit out of an accomplishment. Both concepts are actually quite close. What both are looking at is making things equal. If a person doesn’t do anything that deserves merit, then giving a reward is an injustice. We all want to see the same rules equally applied to everyone.  When we use the term justice for all, that is what is meant. Everyone’s perception of justice may be different too. Therefore we make written laws that we all agree on and follow. They are supposed to be guidelines to keep enforcement equal and in check, showing no bias to gender, race and other associations.

When we begin to associate others under classifications and groups in the same way a botanist does to plants, we form biases. The approach doesn’t work for justice since humans are individuals. It is discriminatory to apply laws according to generalizations and groups. Every individual is responsible to treat others well regardless what group he associates himself with. Some make a claim that by belonging to a certain union, nationality, race, gender, sexual prefence or any other association they deserve special merit; but we are all individuals and we should all answer to the same rules.

I recall friends getting beat up because they mouthed off while visiting a rival school. Even within a high school there are seniors against freshmen and certain peer groups in competition. At home there are sibling rivalries. All severe crime is based in hate and a lack of care for another individual’s well-being. In a civil society there can be no such thing as a hate crime because it gives special consideration to certain groups. If one individual murders or beats up another, it is terrible regardless of what the hate was based in. If it was self defense, then consideration could be made according to the circumstances, but premeditated murder should be treated with the same severity regardless of the motive associated with it. Violence and abuse are the same way. We want everyone to recognize that certain behavior isn’t acceptable and we have laws with enforcement to mete out justice. But to give special consideration to violence or insults due to color or any other distinguishing characteristic is discriminatory against those who don’t have it.  What happened to instilling strength in our children to take insults as a grain of sand?

All violence is an offspring of offense. Teaching children to point at others as the reason they cannot succeed starts a cycle in their thinking that can escalate into thinking violent behavior toward these people is a solution. Making a big thing out of their differences encourages them to form groups one against the other. It doesn’t matter if it is Palestinian/Israeli;  Black/White; North/South; Catholic/Protestant; Rich/Poor; teaching associations as a way to dismiss poor behavior is always wrong. So is expecting favors. We should educate on what it means to have a free hard working civil society of equals. People will always have prejudices. Envy and hatred in return only fuels the fire. Equality, kindness and determination are more effective than diversity.