K: ok, back from the store and my buffalo wings in the oven and my
hot peppers all ready to go in my sauce…
anyway, the point about values is they are not dependent upon human nature…
they are simply choices… we choose our values if we properly understand them…
to make this clear… you have heard of the man who when killing his wife claims
to be temporarily insane… he claimed that he was so enraged, so under the control
of his emotions that he had no choice… we see this all the time when we see
people out of control with anger and hate and greed and lust… they are
under the control of the lower, instinctual emotions… like animals,
they cannot do anything but the instinct whatever that instinct is, be
it anger or be it lust or be it hate, or be it greed…they cannot control
their lower instincts and thus become temporarily insane…
they didn’t choose their values… the lower, instinctual values of
hate and anger and greed and lust choose them, controlled them…
I am talking about values we choose regardless of our human nature…
we don’t become possessed by values to the point of not being able
to control ourselves when we choose peace or freedom or love or
justice… the higher emotions, the human values that give our
lives meaning…you have never heard anyone say, they were temporarily
insane when they marched for peace or marched for justice or they
promoted love as the primary value of human existence…
you don’t need to become depress or sad when thinking about making
choices that are about love or happiness or peace… the
values I am talking about our the values that we can choose as
human beings or as americans or as part of life…that is the point…
we can choose our values that we want to follow whereas
if we cannot choose our values, then we are under the control
of the values of hate and anger and fear… we are under the instincts
to the point of being insane… and we, I don’t choose that…
it doesn’t matter what our “human nature” is if we make choices
that promote life and love and peace and justice and equality…
the point is we have choices… we just need to make the right choice…
something I tell my daughter every single time she goes out for the night…
make the right choices… and as I hope she makes the right choices…
I hope you make the right choices and any who read this, to make the right
choices and the right choices are the choices that aren’t instinctual choices,
choices that control us… no, make the choices that we control like
love and life and peace and hope and justice…
Kropotkin