Try a little kindness

^{The image of a man who had been badly beaten up appeared recently on Facebook. The man had suffered an horrific attack near to where he lived. One minute walking down the street, the next battered by a group of thugs.}

^{It will take some time for him to recover. He now drinks through a straw.  The attack was horrendous but the reactions on social media were also alarming.}

^{Revenge was the order of the day, string them up, beat them up – all sorts. It got me thinking what does this do for the victim of this terrible crime.  Individuals working out their own sense of frustration, in some sort of perverse solidarity with the violence suffered by the victim. A sense of helplessness but also an out  pouring of more hate and anger into an already poisonous situation.}

^{As an individual who suffered an attack, nothing like as severe, some years ago, I would question how much such utterances of revenge help anyone – certainly not the victim. A little more sympathy about the mental and physical scars, from my own perspective the former were far more difficult to deal with in the long term than the latter, would help.}

^{The revenge sentiments also feed into the mentality that once someone is caught, convicted and incarcerated, they are out of sight and out of mind. No longer a problem, that is until they come out of prison, likely to cause more damage.}

^{This case was but one example. Whenever something horrendous happens, it is on social media and revenge is the most common sentiment expressed. Social media seems to be a forum where people feel totally uninhibited to share exactly what they think without what shall we say thinking.}

^{The effect of all this hate circulating is having a damaging effect on our society. There seems to be a vengeance theme invading many elements of life, the need to punish at all costs.}

^{On TV, we increasingly see programmes about benefits cheats or whoever being hunted down for their misdemeanours. There seem to be a disproportionate number of TV personalities, often masquerading as journalists, who really just seem to be frustrated cops. They want to hunt down bad guys and bring them to justice.}

^{The violence theme is rammed home in the world of drama as well. The soaps are the scene of some truly bizarre and violent scenes. Recent examples include in Coronation Street, an individual called Pat, keeping another prisoner in a cellar for months, whilst he continues life as normal elsewhere. Then in Eastenders, the character Max emerging from prison to seemingly reek revenge on the whole community.}

^{On the international stage, the President of the United States trades violent rhetoric with the leader of North Korea. The subject of the insults is usually violence, the ability of one or the other to wipe out a country and all the millions of people who live there.}

^{Surely the time has come for a more kind and peaceful world. A society not premised on violence or the threat of violence – a less hate fuelled world.}

<sup>We could look to a world where the many daily kind acts are recognised and publicised. The recognition of goodwill and kindness that resides in most people. The realisation that walking down the street, not everyone represents a threat. Maybe we just need to put a bit of love out there or in the words of a song from the late Glenn Campbell “try a little kindness to overlook the blindness of narrow minded people on the narrow minded street.”

*Published in the Universe - 13/10/2017</sup>