Lesson Three: Forgive Me Wartortle, For Pidgey has Sandstorm

I'll say it. God is a Negative Nancy. See ya religious demographic, it's been fun.

If you take a look at the Ten Commandments, a book of moral standards sent down from God to Moses, you will find that outside of having one God, and honoring your mom and pop, they are all phrased in the negative. Don't kill. Don't steal. Don't fuck the neighbor lady. This is a basic standard of morality that most of us can live up to easily. The result: Certain folks find it perfectly acceptable to give a crappy loan when they are aware of the likelihood of foreclosure and are counting on it. It isn't really stealing. It isn't really fucking your neighbor. It's an in-between that God didn't feel inclined to include for a bunch of Jews roaming the desert.

It is of the Educationally Independent's opinion, that we should no longer hold the standard of goodness to a list of atrocities a person hasn't committed, but to advance a list of principles and guidelines that an everyday morally-driven person should commit.

It is no longer adequate to simply say, "don't litter, litterbug." We should teach our citizens to proactively clean up their neighborhoods.

"Hey there handsome. Good job picking up those cigarette butts. Thanks for making this a nicer place to be. Have a churro."

Be positive about the active, instead of diminishing the negative.

The most important act we can do for one another is forgive. It is also the hardest thing. Personally, the author of this article is terrible at it. Holding grudges is a completely logical and reasonable thing to do. A grudge is a visceral bodily reminder that an individual or individuals either mean you harm, or do not care about your well being. Evolutionarily, they make perfect sense. It's a part of conditioning.

But being able to move yourself beyond that primal instinct for vengeance is one of the greatest and most important things the people of my generation can do. There will come a day when the bankers and financial institutions on wall street will be brought to justice for what they've done. I have faith that as corruption flourishes it will naturally expose itself, and the masses will have their say. There will come a day when the coin flips and many business ventures in America will lean towards unionized work, and working co-ops. When that day comes, and the corporate institutions start stripping themselves down until it really is the last man standing, there will be that moment when an out of work financial advisor, or stock trader will walk into a cab driver co-op looking for work to feed his family. I have faith that we as a people would be okay with putting those Americans to work. I have faith that we can look past what they've done out of a deluded desire to appease their fathers, and look towards what honest, hard work they are capable of.

Holding a grudge is like making Squirtle withdraw, Pidgey use sandstorm, or Metapod harden over and over again. It is at its core, a self-serving and unproductive action. It will not stop another assault from happening, but perhaps raise your awareness or deaden the impact slightly. Eventually, one must evolve or prepare the hydro pump to proactively deal with the issue at hand. Please do not misinterpret this analogy and think I am encouraging you to solve your problems with water cannons. They tried that during the civil rights movement to no avail.