Notes from the Bottom

"O matter and impertinency mixed! Reason in madness!" - Edgar, King Lear

I get why people become cold and bitter.

Just like the trope that says staunch atheists were once very religious people, perhaps the most ruthless, cold-hearted people were once actually the kindest people on earth -- the kind who did things for people without expecting anything in return, the kind who would put others before themselves.

They simply found that in their most dire of circumstances, no one would lend the kind of understanding, help, and support they offered people.  Being the nicest person made it difficult to find others who were as nice. They asked, people offered what they could and it would always fall short in comparison. Maybe to compare in the first place was their actual downfall. I guess you could blame them for that. But being in a bad place already, this only exacerbated what was already a sad disposition: a pretty self-destructive Molotov-cocktail.

Something that amazes me is the Year of Mercy Jubilee prayer we pray at the end of Mass.

"...You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness 

in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:"

 Well, may weakness not be our undoing. Lord, mercy.