Exactly! The core issue is lack of hope. When hope is gone, all is lost.
And then you see someone driving by in their brand new Mercedes, and you can see in their faces that they've never had to work a day in their lives, it fills you with a boiling rage at the unfairness of the world. To hell with law. To hell with society. I'm gonna get mine. To be honest, it's difficult to blame them.
Note, I've never been poor. Growing up, the only times I went hungry were when I was too lazy to cook - there was always food in the house. So I was kind of naive. I remember my father (he was a pastor) once telling a congregation that he told the Lord that if he ever reached a point where he couldn't feed his family, he would just run away. So I didn't really know the facts of life.
Now, the veil is being lifted.
This, perhaps, is where religion is most useful. If you can convince the poor that there is some sort of 'divine plan,' then people can come to terms with their suffering.
On my way to work each morning, I pass people in the streets, begging alms. They gather at the stoplights, and come to the car windows with their hands outstretched. That is their life, day in day out. Are their lives really worth living? I'm not sure. I'm just not sure.
Maybe Schopenhauer was right about life. I tend toward nihilism quite often these days.
And then you see someone driving by in their brand new Mercedes, and you can see in their faces that they've never had to work a day in their lives, it fills you with a boiling rage at the unfairness of the world. To hell with law. To hell with society. I'm gonna get mine. To be honest, it's difficult to blame them.
Note, I've never been poor. Growing up, the only times I went hungry were when I was too lazy to cook - there was always food in the house. So I was kind of naive. I remember my father (he was a pastor) once telling a congregation that he told the Lord that if he ever reached a point where he couldn't feed his family, he would just run away. So I didn't really know the facts of life.
Now, the veil is being lifted.
This, perhaps, is where religion is most useful. If you can convince the poor that there is some sort of 'divine plan,' then people can come to terms with their suffering.
On my way to work each morning, I pass people in the streets, begging alms. They gather at the stoplights, and come to the car windows with their hands outstretched. That is their life, day in day out. Are their lives really worth living? I'm not sure. I'm just not sure.
Maybe Schopenhauer was right about life. I tend toward nihilism quite often these days.