“If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away; cast away his wickedness.” ~ Lao-Tzu
kindness
I was thinking earlier about how I should just stop posting/boosting about how bad things are going ‘cause we all have enough on our plate already and you can see it everywhere you look already, and why not just focus on the good, happy, silly little things instead?
It’s really stupid out there, and it’s not gonna end in four years (if ever). We all know how this ends, btw. Maybe we should try to lighten the load on each other. Just a thought.
Silly thoughts, like “What if I died in the shower?” are a nice way to break out of the doom and dust silos we can easily trap ourselves in.
We need to be kind to ourselves and to each other, because it’s only gonna get worse; let’s be honest.
#Doomscrolling
#Gratitude
#Collapse
#ClimateCrisis
#Hope
#Kindness
#News
#Cats
#GoodTimes
#Music
#Dreams
#Resilience
#Resist
Edited 57d ago
Speaking as:
a) #antifa for >10 years in (Eastern) Germany and
b) a historian researching the Early Modern Period up to the 20th century (in particular #antisemitism)
Things are bad and will get much worse, before they get better.
We need to be alert to vigilant. Not to prevent stuff, but to see it coming and react accordingly.
There is and will be much need for #MutualAid and for #Kindness to each other - and for being rigorous against fascism in all its forms.
#SiamoTuttiAntifascisti ⚔️🛡️
Edited 95d ago
Helloooo! Let's try this #introduction #mastodon.. #newhere
I'm Caroline from The Netherlands, have been eyeing all the beautiful #photography accounts (amongst others)
Hope to connect on this platform!
Other interests: #sleeptoken #coffee #sarcasm #mentalhealth #psychology #science #sciencefunfacts #metalmusic #blues #soul #love #kindness #helpingothers and so on
I'm not, in any way, shape or form a photographer but here are some shots 😆
Edited 82d ago
Soon after joining Mastodon, life became unnavigable, then my eldest daughter died. Life kept on, but took all energy to stay present for others. Over past 2 yrs, I turned to Mastodon to take in info,escape , comfort. Though I haven’t posted as was tending to grief, I am grateful for the kind folks here.
Daughter’s house is now sold with hope to breathe new life into its aching bones. She is with me always, in Boundless Love, but grief is lifting. Thank you. #ActuallyAutistic #grief #kindness
The family group/tribe is built on mutual support, but the modern conservative version is transactional, based on membership and loyalty. Actions that look like kindness are in reality actions to reinforce tribal loyalty. I think this is why so many people in conservative communties, who are trapped in entirely conservative information spaces, have a hard time breaking free. They see examples of community support as affirmations of their community goodness, and this narrative is drummed into them constantly. Conservative leaders have the advantage of labeling any disruptive people or ideas as 'foreign' and a threat, even if from within the community, so that they never even have to engage with new ideas on merit.
Kindness isnt a relevant trait to their tribal functioning, because the ability to be unkind and cruel to people who arent toeing the tribal line is necessary to upholding 'family law'. Kindness in others undermines their attempts to police peoples behavior (this is why its so important that men are in charge). Therefore, not only is kindness devalued, it is actively persecuted as a threat to conservative values. And that is only treatment of your in-group. If you reject kindness internally, imagine how easy it is to subject an out-group to cruel inhumanity. You can literally justify anything. What is horrifying is the degree to which everyday members of conservative communities have become willfully blind to the terrible treatment of others in order to hang on to an image of community goodness. I have witnessed far too much of this in my life.
Its worth stating that the left has its own, different kind of tribalism. They embrace kindness but there is a lot of pressure to prove the right kind of worth. It has a distinctly multicultural, anti-authoritarian tribalism, where the rules of the tribe are under constant negotiation. This makes communicating a platform challenging. Its a lot simpler for conservative platforms whose rules come from demagogues and an old book.
The flaw of designing a system without compassion is that the cruelty eventually becomes impossible to hide from the tribe, and the cruelty comes for everyone. #uspol #politics #disability #sociology #anthropology #kindness #geopol