The Hour of Man

"Suppose that we all considered ourselves members of, not an organization, but an ancient, durable order, the only one that we can truly give allegiance to - humanity. Supposing that, instead of blame and censure, or judgement and punishment, we met deviations and aberrations of the norm with sympathy and understanding, with a desire to aid rather than a desire to protect ourselves. Supposing we based our security solely upon the certitude of mutual aid. Supposing we scrapped the web of complicated laws in which we are now hopelessly enmeshed and substituted the unwritten law that no cry of distress, no appeal for help, should go unnoticed. Is not the instinct to aid one another just as strong, stronger indeed than the impulse to condemn? Do we not suffer from the disuse of this instinct, from it's usurpation by the state and charitable organizations of every kind? If we knew, in brief, that whatever our plight, whatever the cause of it, we had to but announce it and we would be succored, would not most of the ills which now plague us fall away by themselves? Are we not all victims of fear and anxiety precisely because we lack faith in one another? And more so because we lack the intelligence to recognize a power and wisdom greater than our own?"

Henry Miller

I stole this from my friend B, who posted it in a note on facebook.