Our own understanding of our importance is one of our most defining tragic flaws because it first gives us a false sense of overarching accountability. What we feel we are accountable or responsible for is our source of pride. This pride has a tendency to grow, allowing us to believe that our initial importance is greater than it truly is. It is the weakness by which we can be manipulated and convinced, even by our own minds, to forgo the rationale that keeps us from committing the most terrible acts that humans are capable. The knowledge of our incredible importance is also all of the information necessary to create beauty and compassion, but even these most altruistic qualities are merits which reinforce the ego. This is the trend of the human condition. We are inseparable from our pride and ego, even in the most unfortunate situations. The most we can do about it is to accept these traits while trying to recognize when they are being used against us and when we are using them against ourselves.
In a world where we are forced to be certain ways to please those who afford us a means by which to sustain our lives, it is equally important to separate ourselves from those ways while in the company of those who are forced to pander to the same lifelines as yourself. Try not to be the person who continues the facade in the presence of those who are not served by it. If you cannot make this distinction, your mind will find no place for solace. Do the regrettable things you have to do to survive, but don’t try to justify them beyond that because once you convince yourself of anything more, you have lost your humanity.
Joseph D. Newcomer 