ThirstyFish

The mural on the wall is actually on the Mural Mile which I will post separately as a part of that series.

The Philadelphia mural "Finding Home" took on the subject of the invisibility and indignity that the homeless people experience. That can be expanded to those among us that are less privileged, physically disabled or intellectually challenged; they too are also invisible to many of us. Even when we do notice them, we suffer from transience, we have a short memory, we forget.

Essentially all religions in the world, all ethical codes, encompass the concept of The Golden Rule: "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself" together with its negative form, the Silver Rule: "One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated". Unfortunately some that promote their respective ethical or religious agendas using the Golden Rule are those that break it most: Those that start Holy Wars, corporations that put short-term profits ahead of social interests and safety, politicians...

Consciously or out of ignorance, some of us adapt an opposite approach: the shortest path, the greedy algorithm. We are not interested in the ethic of reciprocity. We redefine good as wealth, strength, health and power; bad as poverty, weakness, sickness and virtue. We attempt to attain wealth, strength, health and power without the regard for, and often at the expense of, others. But others do not suffer from short memory...

Human nature is dissonant; we are both egotistical and compassionate. We have to embrace both of these (seemingly) contradictory aspects of our nature and keep them in balance. Doublethink is necessary, but is functional only when it is not imposed on us and comes from within. Sorry George Orwell.