On November 12, 2014, Philae landed on a comet, ending a 10 year chase and interception. A small group of smart people took on a nearly impossible, occasionally terrifying, often tedious challenge and won. Moments like these give us a jolt of possibility.
If we want to do big things, like fighting climate change, rescuing a democracy from the icy grips of plutocrats or moving into Space, we need to be worthy of the challenge. After years thinking about it, I pinpointed Cruelty as the #1 thing holding us down. So, not knowing any better, I made a simple commitment:
I reject cruelty in all its forms, and will take action to stop it when someone commits it, or I contemplate it.
Sounds easy, doesn't it? It's not.
In 2000, Andrew Burnett had a fit of road rage, ran to a car behind him at SFO, tossed an old lady's Bison Friche into traffic, killing it. He set off a firestorm of hatred and anger in the Bay Area, ended up hiding his truck, changing his appearance, while an entire population went looking for him. He got caught, and ended up serving 3 years in Prison. Good thing the public have forgotten it when he got out, an ex-felon who is likely now struggling to survive.
In a more recent story, a Deputy in West Virginia was fired after arresting a homeless man. Why did this make National news? The Deputy threw the man's backpack into the Elk River, destroying his laptop that had the only remaining photograph of his dead wife.
Both of these became National News. Why? Cruelty. But you only got half of it. As you read these 2 paragraphs, did you want to hurt these 2 men? Are you now torturing an imaginary version of these guys in your head right now?
Cruelty is very sticky. It's infectious. It's addictive. It shatters people, fuel revenge which fuels more cruelty. It's easy to tell other people to not be cruel while saving the right for yourself. You have to let all that go. No matter how despicable the act, the perpetrator, or the target.
We have been trained for vengeance. An eye for an eye. Countless action movies where the good guy blows the bad guys away, where the gun is followed by a pun. 3 soldiers in Syria beat to death by a mob wielding shoes; a christian couple thrown into a kiln in Pakistan because an Imam accused them of desecrating the Q'uran; a photograph of a group of gun-wielding white men, women and children jeering over the charred body of a black man they slowly burned to death for supposedly flirting with a white woman.
It's a root problem. It's everywhere, everyday. It's dead serious. It's a big problem. Compared to that, landing on a comet was easy. But if you want to be part of the reason your great-grandchildren can inherit the stars, we have to take the first steps today.
Whether you succeed or fail, it has to start somewhere. Try the pledge.