Avoid Extremes

My Dear Readers,

                I must caution you against extremes. When we give ourselves into the extreme ideas on a position, we can only cause more suffering. Some people might feel the only way to make things right is to swap the positions. However, what would that do but instead place the victims in the roles of the offenders? Nothing gets fixed, but instead the very little progress that was made gets destroyed.

                It also is not right to use extreme measures to make a point. For instance, it is wrong for a vegetarian, to explain why he or she does not eat meat, to kill a man’s child and serve it to him. Also, as ironic as it may be, it is wrong for a “pro-life” supporter to wish a “pro-choice” advocate that his or her parents had chose to abort the “pro-choice” supporter. Both, though in different areas, are wrong. They both undermine the goal of their position; the vegetarian is to respect all animals and life while the “pro-life” supporter is to say abortion is never right, regardless of how someone might turn out to be. In addition, the vegetarian would have committed murder and the “pro-life” activist used hate speech. The result of any of these actions would be support for the problem, not the solution.

                 When I look at literature that involves a revolution, I am certainly more cautious about whether I agree with it or not. At the moment, my opinion has been shaped to not praise a revolution unless a solid plan of operation is in place. One thing I praise about the so-called American Revolution is that it only really removed who was at the top. They kept the local governments in place to keep things in control. Then they laid out how they were to run the government, addressing many of the problems from before. While I doubt it was entirely peaceful, that is far better than anything I can say about the French Revolution. When a plan is laid out that does not simply swap who is where in power, but works to treat the citizens correctly, even those who were previously in power, there is hope for progress. Otherwise, there can only be a Reign of Terror and the destruction of progress.

                I turned in to a Japanese murder mystery. At the end of the show, the main character realized that revenge never ends unless someone is ready to forgive. That is true. That is why it is important to teach people how to forgive. We all offend someone one time or another, and sometimes it is truly grave. However, we need to act not only to reconcile our actions, but to forgive and move forward.

                So I say to you again, do not be easily swayed by the extremists in their positions. It is not hard to find that the extremists actually attack the very people they say they are trying to help. Actions must be kept in check by reason and love, and if everyone adopts that, we will make progress.

N.D. Moharo