We must not judge those who left humanity behind. They are the ones who were first left behind by humanity, through us.
Leaving Humanity behind has many forms. Some forms are extreme and we think of them as evil. Some are subtle, and invisible to our empathic radar. Some are forever, while others flash before our eyes in a cascade of moments of abandonment born of despair and loneliness.
Leaving Humanity behind is sometimes a chronic breakdown of hope and other times a stroke that splits one's living from life itself.
When all is said and done, and the limbic noise subsides, what is left is the heavy sense of loss, an intoxicating blend of guilt and angst when we realize the devastating effect of demonizing other human beings - an act we feel compelled to undertake in order to somehow justify the unsaid and resolve our willing or unwilling participation.
We should not judge those who left humanity behind, nor should we judge ourselves for leaving them behind, but we must remind ourselves that every time we point our accusing finger at someone we are also in the position to pull the implacable trigger of blame and ostracizing - I have learned this from a dear and now lost friend.
We, humans, are truly remarkable creatures, but also very fragile, easily swayed, easily manipulated. We are strong and resilient, kind yet often cunning. We can dream up worlds of infinite splendors, yet we are seduced by the darkest of visions. We are capable of love, yet we know little of true love in our hunger and strive for self-validation and possession.
We are filled with limitless curiosity as children, and yet we metamorphose too eagerly into emotional and mental monsters under the pressure - and lure - of prejudice and intolerance. We are capable of creativity and innovation, yet we trap our effervescent imagination inside unbreakable citadels of ignorance.
We are cosmic beings, yet lost next to one other in our rush through a life that inevitably ends as star dust, lingering as a fading memory of individuals and a collective perpetually moving on through time.
We must not judge the ones who leave humanity behind, nor should we forget how our own abandonment of others leaves them alone and vulnerable to the temper tantrums of the powerful or the indifferent.
In the end, there is no true evil. There is only an echo of often horrifying choices born of a tragic failure to connect, to empathize, to support, and to guide.
The fallow ground of our hopeful dreams needs nurturing thoughts and kind companionship or it turns hardened and dried-up, a desolate mental desert neither us or others can traverse - a prison we carry within and forever, keeping us apart and unreachable.
We must not judge the ones who leave humanity behind, but rather look deep within ourselves to spot the fleeing moments of abandon, to search the mirror of our image for a glimpse of those who looked upon us but remained unseen.
The tragedy of our world lies not in the suffering from paying timely dues of age, but rather in the rifts torn between each other, turning us into isolated islands - abysses away - separated by our own cultural constructs of identity and enforced by rites and norms.
In the beginning, there is no evil. What we perceive as Evil is Metastasized Emotional Trauma.
The path to Emotional Healing is through Acceptance and Understanding.
Remember that - if you must ever judge those left unheard and pushed to leave humanity behind.
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