I don't think it's any secret that what's popular or trendy can sometimes be terribly destructive to certain people, but it's sometimes easy to overlook because those who are wounded by such things are rarely even mentioned within any public media--which is why it's rather shocking whenever one begins to investigate just how very numerous such overlooked persons are.  What's even more obnoxious about those who ignore people in need, is that every category of humanity has been in need at some point; every group within some time and place in history has been a marginalized population.  
     Having read Scott Peck's book, "The Different Drum:  Community Making and Peace," and noticed the insight suggesting that one of the measures of a community is the answer to the question of whom it excludes, I find I am becoming more and more suspicious of most popular psychology and theology.  Upon closer inspection, many of these ideological constructions are little more than support of the financially middle and upper classes tendency to be pathologically selfish and narcissistic.  
   Certainly I understand that it is virtually impossible for any human civilization to exist without some form of rich and poor classifications, but I also understand that when the foundation of a pyramid is washed away in a flood, the highest point comes crashing down along with it.  It is therefore wise for the wealthy citizens within any society to pay attention to whether the poorest of the poor have some legitimate way of getting their needs met.  Considering the familial contexts of many of history's greatest inventors, innovators, thinkers, and humanitarians, the homeless person one sees on the street may potentially be the next Albert Einstein, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, Lao Tzu, Leonardo da Vinci, Harriet Tubman, Amadeus Mozart, or William Shakespeare.  
     Everyone matters and apathy is not a virtue, no matter what philosophy or religion may occasionally encourage such disconnection.  I'm not sure why, but I continue to be astonished at how very many very well-educated people choose to remain emotionally and relationally disconnected from the fates of their fellow human beings for nothing better than financial reasons.  We are each others' guardian angels and if we do not behave as such, the foundation of the pyramid that is humanity will continue to crumble.  
     We have the ability to do better than that; to choose, after accomplishing a stable place within the world, to invest ourselves into our communities, finding some individual to whom we can offer some sort of aid.  By blessing members of our community, even those who have no apparent means to ever directly repay us, we help to create a community which will support each of us in our hour of need also.  We have the ability to leave a legacy of love, generosity, and wisdom, rather than merely the occurrence of a large estate sale, once our biological remains have been buried in the local cemetery.  
     There will never be another person exactly like any one of us, so it is very important to do the things which only we can do, during the few years on earth we are allowed.  No one else can do our exclusively individual tasks for us.  No one else can write our life story by doing the actions which can truly only be done by us.  We stand on the shoulders of previous generations of humanity.  Will we give future humanity our shoulders upon which to stand?  Will we create anything which has the capacity to outlive us and also bless the world with wisdom and love for many generations yet to come?  
     No act of selfishness is ever fondly remembered; no act of genuine and unconditional love is ever regretted.  Live life today without regrets, if you can find any way to do so.  By love, wisdom, and the grace of that which is truly God, this really is possible.
    May one and all and everything, blessed and loved ever be.



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