The Essential Lubricants of Humanity

As a fitting analogy, any kind of lubricant is essential to the normal maintenance of mechanisms on which we depend, in order to preserve lifestyles that change from time to time.  Is it not, therefore, proper that the normal function of the mechanisms of virtue be also lubricated by compassion and humility, without which morality in general would, sooner or later, come to a grinding halt?  The lubricants of humility and compassion when excluded serves to upset the equilibrium of our very existence.

Just as any mechanism can eventually rust and the parts thereof disintegrate, so can the mechanism of society in general, the components of which can gradually deteriorate and even become irreplaceable over a period of time.  What makes the mechanism of society functional is not the mechanism by itself alone, but by the interdependence of its components.  For example, in many parts of the world where hunger and poverty are rampant, and where autocracies are dominant, societies have fallen in disarray and, in most instances, have become practically non-existent.  Why?  The answer lies in the absolute unscrupulousness of those in power, whose indifference to the need for the proper maintenance of the mechanisms of their societies has caused their dysfunction which could have been avoided if the essential lubricants would have been available to restart the mechanism.

As time goes by, populations increase, with circumstances of poverty and hunger built into the structure of  their existence,  confirming the fact that there will always be more and more impoverished people in the world in relation to those that are affluent.

We should, at the same time, bear in mind that no country can forever remain immune to poverty.  Decades ago, the United States, could, in no uncertain terms, better manage its economy than today, by keeping its economy from sputtering or breaking down, while lubricating it with the humility and compassion that helped sustain those in dire need.  Nowadays, with its population steadily multiplying, together with many divergent, political preoccupations, the mechanism of its economy continues to sputter because of the absence of adequate, humanitarian lubrication that could have, perhaps, regenerated its normal function.  

Like it or not, there will always be more and more poor and needy people in the world.  Such a situation is not new nor unusual.  The rich get richer, either through inheritance or sheer hard work, while the status of the poor remains unchanged, mostly because of illiteracy and indifference on the part of those at the helm of affairs.  Since the beginning of time, there has always been a sharp line of distinction between wealth and poverty.  What actually keeps humanity from self-destructing is humility and compassion, and there is no doubt that virtues, such as these, are the essential lubricants that continue to maintain the function of any mechanism, both literal and analogical.