Has anyone ever studied the Salem witch hunts and trails. What I found interesting about these, is how people who claimed to be peaceful, could get so riled up, that they were willing to kill people. The spark that lit the fire was often a rumor or false accusations that got out of hand, or perhaps a misunderstanding on a issue or people thinking they saw something they didn't. We all have to remember the "Special Needs Talks" of the Kingdom Hall days. If you do, then you remember that if the elder talked about something other then the societies selection, it meant something happened in the congregation. What I always remember about this, was all the turning heads and whispers as the talk went along. You know the, "I heard something about this thought" and the "who was it" looks. It was a great example of people trying to use their brains to figure out the mystery with only a splattering of clues. Of course, after the meetings and away from the Kingdom Hall. People would talk out loud about who they thought it was about and make theories on who was involved. The problem was, more often then not, they were wrong. Being wrong about something never stopped any Witness from forming an opinion. So people would take what facts they thought they knew and decide they knew who was involved and give them a little private mental judging. In doing so, often innocent people were marked or left out of things, when people labeled them privately as trouble makers. My wife one time found out a issue came up, and later people thought she might be involved. In fact, she knew nothing about it and was not even aware of the people talking about her. When it did finally come to her attention, she was very hurt and even cried that people would think such a thing about her, without talking to her about it first. Never underestimate people with so much paranoia in their ranks. In any group, I think we all worry about ourselves and the actions we take. I think inside we always worry that someone might affect our world in a negative way, so we watch out for signs that bother us. The problem is, often we allow others to raise our guards falsely with accusations based on nonsense. Thus the hatred and prejudice running through our country right now with Muslims and people of Arab descent. Not because the individual did something, but because our government has shown these men to be dangerous in news broadcast and warnings. It is really frightening to see how small thoughts can turn into huge movements of hate, and history is a huge lesson in this regard. Even during WW2 our country thought Japanese Americans were a threat and locked them in camps. Even though they were actually Americans and born in this country. I don't know why I thought of this tonight, but it just came to my mind. How we can assume so much about things, and think we have it all figured out. In doing so we can offend, harm or even destroy another person. It might not seem like a big deal to us, but if and when it happens to you. You will understand! I hope I always remember to think, and never assume based on false information. For kindness to me, means we hear all the facts and still leave the judging to someone else. My thought Dragon
Edited by - kenpodragon on 3 October 2002 22:28:25