WHY YOU SHOULD BE AN EAGLE....

I’ve been watching the World War II documentary “Apocalypse” on the Smithsonian channel and the effects on me are profound….and varied; anger and shock are always the undercurrent….but the enduring message….the one that stays with me and primes my emotions, and my heart……is compassion.

The German atrocities are well documented, though still beyond human comprehension…the Russians, upon advancing through Germany are only slightly less vicious….as they come upon German households with defenseless mothers and children…and they savagely rape the women and girls….and oftentimes leave them dead ….so, where are the good guys?

Even if there hadn’t been a WWII these characteristics and capabilities in these men were all latent, capable of emerging with the right opportunity or circumstance…..these men were vulnerable..…very easily overcome and controlled. They had many great characteristics, but not independent minds. They were brought up with Nationalistic pride, obedience, deference to authority, and not universal empathy and compassion.

So, what do we have to say about that….? The atrocities of war are only possible if there are men willing to carry out those atrocities…one crazed lunatic can’t even get the ball rolling without mass compliance. Hitler takes a disproportionate amount of the blame...frighteningly, it was a ”team” effort.

So, what can we learn from this….? I think the overriding message is to develop compassion and empathy in your children…intense compassion and empathy…..and a total commitment to autonomy, to independent thinking…never “group” thinking or cultural thinking….

In my opinion, anything that happens in a group….is suspect….no doubt there are groups that encourage high morality and even compassion and empathy…but let’s not forget that even religion is responsible for an incredible amount of death and grief in this world…..

Peer pressure happens in a group…Gang activity happens in a group, it sequesters individuals into following the group….Fraternity excesses often happen in groups….most people are looking for something to follow…or something to belong to…and they abdicate their own sovereignty to another person, or to a group. Even if you choose to be a member of a group, or even to marry someone, I say to do so only conditionally…always conditionally…if the group displays behavior that is coercive or contrary to your personal values, morals, or ethics…then disavow that group…no matter who or what they are…that goes for a spouse as well…..if your spouse is exhibiting behavior that is compromising your integrity or diminishing your true self…..then make the course correction, as you would if you were starting to steer your car down into a ditch. Always keep a hold of the steering wheel in YOUR life….Disavow groups that don’t align with your ethics etc..

These movements can’t exist, nor can they carry out their horror, without the acquiescence of you and me….the masses…Autonomy is the enemy of these destructive movements…

Most of us, at a young age….get married to things…we are born into a religion at a very young age…and we “marry” it…some of us find a “partner” when we are young, or even older, and we “marry” them. We find an ideology, or cultural belief system and we “marry” it. The problem is, when we “marry” something, inquiry and free thinking are the casualties…We stop asking questions…we close our minds…and we march…blindly…..we live out our lives under all of these “flags”, flags that we started to carry when we were too young to have asked enough questions, too young to have seen the big picture…we start “saluting” ideology and we wear the “armbands” of surrender to that ideology…..soon enough, our identity gets attached to that ideology…and then it is very hard to think objectively, the brainwashing is complete.

And, equally as important, in my opinion, is to raise children with commitment to compassion, and empathy, and good character. More important than doctrine or dogma is to learn compassion and empathy….Compassion and empathy are the universal language…it doesn’t require that you carry a flag, or subscribe to rules and regulations and dogma, it doesn’t require obedience and subservience…except to your own conscience….

If these men, the Germans, the Russians, the Japanese, Italians, etc., who perpetrated and carried out such horrific and inhuman acts, were to have been raised to be compassionate, and empathetic, and to have integrity….or even to live by the simple “golden” rule,---“Love thy neighbor as thyself”, then none of these atrocities could have been carried out. Hitler wouldn’t have dared bring up a view of the world that was so full of hatred and destruction….he would have stood out, alone, as a psychopath, a freak. Instead, he was revered and adored by all. He was saluted..”Seig Heil”. Hitler was successful because he knew that if he appealed to the German people’s sense of nationalism (group-ism) and he knew that if he could create a common enemy (anyone not German), and he knew that if he could foster hatred and apathy towards Jews, (and all non Germans) by instilling in the German people a sense of superiority and entitlement….that he could carry out his mission ....and just possibly take over the world. The German people were taught to be obedient, and follow orders, to ”goose step”...it is embedded in the culture…….…and 60 million people died.

And, by the way, the countries that are the very best at ”goose stepping”, are going to be the ones that you should keep the closest eye on.....Germans in the 1930’s and 40’s, and North Korea, presently.

We know the human mind and heart is capable of more…Oskar Schindler proved that…..but why was he one of just a scant few who chose compassion and empathy....and Independence? There were incredibly few dissenters. Not only that, but there are documented incidents where German soldiers were allowed exemption from executing Jews; the records show that only on a rare occasion did a German soldier ask to opt out of the killing. To a man they grabbed a pistol and took their turn pulling those triggers, execution style.

I say, the German people, and the Russian people, and the Japanese people, didn’t do enough to raise children with fierce empathy and compassion….they didn’t do enough to raise their children to be independent thinkers….and not people who salute to a dictator who is selling global war and hatred….These people were not independent enough, secure enough, or discerning enough, to refuse to wear an armband. They were raised to “salute”---to march. They weren’t critical thinkers. They were great at making watches, and automobiles, (and bombs) and they were amazingly disciplined and hard working, but they lacked the characteristics that would prevent 60 million dead.

The German parents and Russians parents…and ALL parents EVERYWHERE are failing if they do not teach their kids to “love thy neighbor as thyself” - if they don’t teach their children that inquiry should never stop, and minds should never close, and “doctrine” is always suspect, especially when learned in childhood when the mind is so easy to control. Teach universal values and ethics.

Teach them not to be sheep, never to be sheep…..but to be Eagles….who rarely fly in flocks…..Eagles fly independently….and they have keen eyesight….they have amazing peripheral vision. Eagles also have an advantage over people in that people see three basic colors whereas eagles see five. Humans have 200,000 light-sensitive cells per square millimeter of retina, while eagles leave humans in the dust with about 1 million light-sensitive cells per square millimeter of retina.

Be the Eagle....

Hitler could never could have had power over Eagles……he wouldn’t have even tried…he would have remained a floundering artist……he needed sheep….and he found lots of them….

Give rise to Eagles…who fly high…. and with confidence..not with arrogance….

“When you find yourself in the majority, think again” - Mark Twain

Food for thought...