To Supersoulty and John Ford

[Gabu]

Regarding this topic as a whole:

I don't know, I personally have a more optomistic view than most seem to.  I personally believe in an inherent but extremely repressed goodness in human beings that only gets expressed under great trauma but which ultimately will dictate what happens.

Just today where I live there was a woman being attacked and even shot at by her ex-husband because he hated her so much.  What did one bystander in a car do?  He got out of his car, ran up to her, grabbed her, put her into her car and rushed off to a hospital.  She survived, but they said she wouldn't have had he not done what he did, all at his own peril.  He didn't get anything out of it other than the satisfaction that he had saved her life.

A few days ago a woman was being assaulted in the street.  An onlooker noticed and rather than step aside he rushed to the person's help, taking a harsh beating himself, but saving the woman from any serious damage.  What did the man say about it, in spite of having been thoroughly beaten?  "I'd do it all again if I had to."  As for the perpetrator, he turned himself into the police because he felt shame and guilt for his crime.

What did the world do in the wake of 9/11?  Sure, there were a few shady people who took advantage of it, but the vast majority of people around the world all of a sudden forgot their differences.  For a day, no one in Manhatten was a stranger anymore.  There was a sense of mutual understanding and compassion between the vast majority of people, both directly affected and not.  Granted, this feeling went away with time, but it was capable of existing.

There have been times where I've seen George W. Bush with an advantage and I've lost heart dramatically.  I shake my head at it and tell myself that we're all going to hell in a handbasket.  But then I think about it, and we've been through four years of Bush and the world is still standing.  America is still a strong and proud nation.  The same can be said about any president that one might despise.  We forget in all the fervor or anger towards policies and actions that George Bush is not evil.  John Kerry is not Satan.  They're human and they make mistakes and may lie and be weasels, but they're not evil.  It may be better or worse times under one of them but life goes on.  The goodness in humans continues to exist.

There may, of course, be some setbacks for some people.  There may be problems that arise.  One president might do a much better job than another.  One might curb liberties in a way that many people don't like.  One might make actions that others don't like.  In the end, however, it doesn't really matter who wins the election.  As Clinton said in his speech, whether you like the guy or not, every time there's been a real, serious, undeniable problem, "we chose to build a more perfect union."