Everyday Canvas

Wars and Being Human, and Curses

Prompt: What have human beings become? Did war make us evil or did it just activate an evil lurking inside us? Are we guilty of making permanent decisions based on temporary feelings?

===============

I think human beings are the way they have been all along, rather than becoming good or bad. It is just that, the inventive species that we are, our weapons have changed through our learning, for the more we have learned the more we have become good or bad.

As to the wars, when people are crossed or stepped upon, they react negatively, which is instinctive and immediate, most of the time. When this happens on a larger scale and between nations instead of people, wars become the result. I believe,over the centuries through the positive influences of certain belief systems and psychology’s advances, a good number of people have learned tolerance and acceptance, and they do not jump the gun at the first provocation.

Yet, there are still many people who do not practice patience when provoked, whose shadowy sides aren’t trained to see the good in everyone, and who do not care about doing good to others. They are the ones who start the wars and brainwash the rest of the folks to believe and act like them.

The brainwashed are the ones who are guilty of making permanent decisions based on temporary feelings. Unfortunately, sometimes, they are not aware that they are being used through the manipulation of their feelings.

Still, to act on our feelings is only being human, and most or at least some of the time, our feelings can be good compasses, but we have to sense and investigate their origins, so we are not led to act as the puppets of wayward monsters.

Prompt: Curses only have power if you let them. Do you agree? Do other concepts of life have power as well?

This depends on what kind of a curse. A four-letter curse thrown the way of my friends and family would make me see red; however, if at me, I’d shake it off immediately, with no problem.

If the curse is the kind uttered by witches and similar beings, I have to believe in that supernatural stuff to have the curse have any power on me. Even if I did believe in such a thing, I’d probably end up returning the same curse, gift-wrapped.

What has any power on people, especially children, are the names people call them. Call a child an incompetent, and he or she will feel and show incompetence. This is true if the name-caller is a parent, a teacher, or a mentor.

The same is true for adults. Sometimes, a negative comment will damage an adult‘s progress or success. Words have power on the human psyche; therefore, we must be careful and pay attention to what we say and whose words we take to heart.