Be me
Sitting out on front porch reading while Harriet runs around.
Guy across the street walking his cute little French Bull dog
Dog starts to roll in poop while guy keeps walking and doesn't notice because his dog isn't on a leash.
Guy finally notices his dog isn't close by, walks back and starts yelling rhetorical questions at the dog "What's wrong with you?!? Are you serious?!? Stupid piece of shit!"
Smacks the dog with the leash that he isn't attached to.
All I can think is, man that guy must have had a fucked up childhood. Whether he thinks he is justified for acting the same way he was treated, or thinks there's nothing wrong with it in the first place because he turned out fine, right?
What paths do we continue to walk in life because they are so familiar? Like driving on autopilot to the same place year after year. Like a scientist doing studies with mice where they're required to kill hundreds of mice, eventually, because of the discomfort it causes, it grows easier and easier. As cognitive dissonance grows and justification continues, the emotional price to change paths grows in tandem.
An assumption is much easier than a long conversation with yourself or others. What thoughts and actions does your brain, through it's own reluctance to face discomfort, ignore or continue?
As the forest grows thicker around you and your paths grow deeper, it gets more and more difficult to cut a new path. A wider path where more than one can walk shoulder to shoulder. Where more than one can decide where we are headed.
I feel like I've exhausted the path metaphor, because even with more than one walking together does not make that the "correct" way. The sooner we can see and admit our own mistakes, the sooner we can get to a place where we may be able to pull others out of their ruts, that from our vantage point, are so obviously harmful.