Human nature makes me sick at times.
Quite often, I am astounded and dumbfounded by peoples' actions, and wonder just what the Hell goes on inside their heads.
I'm not alone in this. Many people tell me that they prefer dogs to human beings in general, and I have to agree with them. Dogs are loyal, loving creatures, that would bravely give their lives to defend their loved ones. Humans, or at least a great percentage of humans, are selfish, spiteful, two faced, and downright obnoxious in comparison.
I'm sorry, but that's true.
I used to be a bit of a pelagian, in that I believed that people were naturally 'good' underneath it all. At the age of 36, I look back and see the naivety of that. I've been stabbed in the back by people who have smiled at my face too many times. More so than ever, I'm naturally guarded against the unpleasant side of human nature when I deal with people.
If I could go back in time and give my 20 year old self some advice, I'd make sure he understood all that I now know about how cruel and malicious people can be.
But... I'd also tell him never to lose sight of the good in people.
For all the terrible things people are capable of, the human race is also capable of an amazing amount of goodness.
Not so long ago, whilst driving home from work, I noticed a moorhen that had been struck by a car, sitting sadly in the road, waiting for another hit to finish it off. I don't know how long the poor thing had been there, but other motorists were driving past it, seemingly oblivious to it's suffering.
I stopped my car in front of it, and got out. Ignoring the horns and abuse that was coming from the cars behind, I fetched a sweatshirt from my car, wrapped the poor bird in it, and carried it to the car. It had a broken wing and a broken leg, but otherwise it was okay. I took it to a dedicated wildlife hospital, where it was taken in by the excellent staff who were positive that it would make a full recovery and would be able to be released again into the wild.
Not bad, considering it was seconds away from being squished into the tarmac when I stopped my car to rescue it.
The girl who took the animal from me was scathing about the other drivers who drove past it, and the people behind me who sounded their horns and shouted abuse at me for holding them up for a minute. She had a rant about human nature, and told me how she preferred animals to humans etc etc.
Of course she was right, but she was missing something obvious.
The fact that we were in a dedicated wildlife hospital, funded entirely by charitable donations, spoke volumes for the fact that THERE IS A WONDERFUL SIDE TO HUMAN NATURE.
If you look at the past century or so, you'll also see that there is a collective desire amongst the human race to better itself. Despite the efforts of an increasingly few religious hard-liners, the human race is becoming more tolerant, less prejudiced, and above all, more caring.
Human nature, at this point in time, isn't what it could be. It's downright rotten still, but it has the potential and the desire to improve. We've got to believe in that ability though. For all the crappy things people do, we mustn't forget that there are an awful lot of good hearted people in this world, doing a lot of amazingly good things.