COMMENT ON THE HUMAN RACE

The best of us on our best day are beyond incredible. Unfortunately the rest of us stink on our worst days and simply are repulsive on our average days. On our good days most human beings are worth the air they breathe. 

Human beings are motivated by self-interest and sometimes by family interest. The public interest abides in most of us just below interest in the survival of earthworms during rain events. 

Is envy or lust for power and influence the worst of various sins? I tend to think so as it motivates us to behave very badly. Human beings routinely lie for self-interest even though eventually most people who routinely lie are eventually found out and identified as liars. This lust for power and influence starts at an early age. Often it is those persons who absolutely were not born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Their families and parents had little to no power or influence and as well likely little financial means. There are jokes about short people with examples like Napolean and perhaps even Hitler front and centre. I do know that on our regional and municipal councils, short men are well over represented with names not being necessary right now. 

You can even see it in political parties as well as in environmental groups. Good Lord but sporting organizations are full of it both amateur and professional. People rapidly become more concerned with their status and position than with the goals of the organization. In other words they identify their rise and position within the organization as an indicator of the health of the organization itself. As such they believe that reinforcing their position and status is paramount and always aligns with the interests of the organization whether it does or not. School Boards are another typical example of human beings completely losing sight of the end goal of the organization as they jockey and manipulate to put themselves at an advantage.  

What is scary is that this group of people generally are good dissemblers. They hide in plain sight and they know what to say to both fit in and to generally be liked. They are in it for the long term and as many of the people around them have absolutely no idea of their hidden agenda, it makes manipulation so much easier. It may be hard to fool someone who's already on to you but fooling friends and colleagues who like you is child's play. It does take brains to get away with this anti-social behaviour over the long term. That said there will always be people along the way who have figured you out and lost all respect for you as a consequence. For the truly lustful for power and influence, losing friends or family support is of little consequence.