Good food for thought in this post. Humans do certainly have a tendency for violence in their base, unconscious nature. Raising lots of tiny humans has shown me that many of us work through it as children, even as toddlers, if the environment is set up to teach reasoning and alternatives to violence. Of course, if the childhood is full of violence or harm or a lack of conscious understanding, then the tendency for violence just grows and becomes the norm for an individual to express themselves, whether as a tactic to exert control over a situation or as a lack of control over negative emotions. Then, of course, there's desparation, which can break anyone...and let's not forget the entertainment industry that bombards us with images of violence as a solution to life's problems and at this point often glorifies the villains, or erases the line between being a good guy and a bad guy.
My understanding of Japanese culture has such an emphasis on politeness, composure, and a lack of emotion being displayed, that I can understand there are individuals who completely crack under that kind of pressure. I absolutely love many things about Japan, but allowing oneself to express feelings honestly and openly (in a healthy way, of course) keeps a person from getting to the point of explosion.
As for Jamaica, literally generations of desperation and oppression combine to create a society that sees no other option than to forcibly take what one needs, because it's never going to be given freely. Which is really sad for me to think about, because ultimately there is such a beauty and abundance in Jamaica, it could certainly be sculpted to be Eden if only human ugliness didn't get in the way.
Thanks for stimulating my brain this morning with something other than the teenagers in my house! Much love!!
Good reasoning, childhood is the time when most of our traits are molded and in an environment that is filled with violence it will be hard to brake that mold. Raising kids is a real eye opener as you get to see first hand how personalities are made or naturally occur. Oh lord the entertainment industry, I can admit that it highly influenced me as a teen so when people say it doesn't, they really don't know what they are talking about. And the more desperate of situation one is in, makes the mind more impressionable.
It is definitely the biggest problem
I see here in Japan, people don’t express how they feel and then you see headlines like the one in my post or hear that the
trains have stopped because someone has committed suicide. Jumping in front of a train takes a different level of bravery mixed with depression and can also be seen as spiteful as the family has to pay for the expenses.
As they say in Jamaica “Jamaica is not a real place”. So many social issues with roots stemming back to slavery, mixed with the poverty, politics, ignorance, classism and then the media influence has created something that will take generations to fix. So much beauty indeed and many are waking up to that fact as the Chinese and Indians take advantage. But better days will come.