Human Nature Observations

Human Nature

This is a collection of observations that this old man has made. I believe these observations to be true for the majority of people. I would guess that less then 20% of the people in the world would fall into exceptions that would make these observations subjective rather then absolute.

1. Strength of Character.
Good strong character is only formed by persevering through hardship. This is true for both children and adults. Over protective parents can do as much harm to children as abusive parents when they don’t allow their children to experience and grow through trials. With adults those that cut and run when the going gets tough really short change themselves in regards to their own character growth.

2. Hypersensitivity breeds hypersensitivity.
When the hypersensitive are treated with kid gloves their condition only gets worse. With the backing of greed and lawyers we have the politically correct hypersensitive world we now live in. This has gotten out of hand in the work place. For when a boss has to actually confront an employee over a performance issue the employee can’t take the criticism and often goes off the deep end. No doubt some of the headline work place violence falls into this scenario.

3. The pettiness of whining.
The easier a persons life is the more petty their whining is. This is especially true in the business world.

4. 80/20
In most group settings when a group project is in work 20% of the people will do 80% of the work.

5. The Police
When the majority of individuals will not police their own individual private lives in a free country it will not be long before that country becomes a police state.

6. When good men do nothing evil will prevail.
This is one of the most self evident observations of our times. Greed, perversion, fraud, is in abundance. Our schools, the media, leaders, etc. promote evil. From abortion to porn to corporate greed and excessive hedonism. It is as if being immoral is trendy these days and doing what is right is mocked. Good people need to stand up for what is right.

7. Balance
Most all aspects of human behavior require some balance. From the person that is too nice to the person that is too selfish. This can also be witnessed when a parent doesn’t’ discipline a child they will turn out worse then a child that was over disciplined.

8. War.
As long as humans are on this planet in our current nature there will be war. People will make war for greed, power, hate, revenge, to spread Islam, or a hundred other whacked reasons. Take this example, a private school with kids in matching uniforms, well to do with all the luxury’s in life, being taught the very best of moral training. They will still divide up into clicks and find ways to hate the other groups. Spread that part of human nature out across the planet and there will always be war.

9. Nature abhors a vacuum.
Remove a portion of the human emotional foundations and people will find something else to fill the void with. Often what fills the gap is unhealthy. An example of this is remove a father from a house and daughters will try to fill the void with boyfriends. Boys will fill it with sports or gangs.

10. Activism.
Show me a passionate social activist and I will show you some one with a inner anger problem that usually has nothing to do with their topic of activism.

11. Margaretville.
When you go on a vacation you spend the first week unwinding and learning how to relax. The second week you really start recharging your batteries. Sitting there with your toes in the sand the thought passes your mind if all the hustle and bustle is worth it. What if I could just retire on the beach with out a care in the world. A few folks can do just that but the majority that try find out within 3 years that their life lacks any kind of purpose. They become dissatisfied with Margaretville and they head back to the grind. it’s the contrast that makes Margaretville so appealing, take away the contrast and it just turns into long term hedonism that dulls the human spirit.

12. Changed hearts
If you follow Chuck Colsen’s group you will see good examples of changed hearts. From the brutal thug that becomes one you could trust with your kids. To the greedy corporate exec who turns their life into serving others. Only God can change a heart and he will change the heart of the repentant.

13. Humans hate to learn from the past.
There is nothing in the human experience that has not already happened in the past. All the lessons are there to gain wisdom and guidance. It is a safe bet that groups and individuals will think they can re-invent the human condition and not learn from history for each new endeavor. It seems political leaders suffer from this the worst.

14. Tell a lie long enough.
It still amazes me what people will hold as true. A good example of this is the media played out Dan Quial out to be a bumbling idiot. But in truth he was a brilliant man. He had a Juris Doctorate degree from the Indiana University school of law. Yet find one person today that doesn’t’ remember his portrayal in the press as a fool. Agenda mongers know this to be true with people so if your only source of information is CNN you may want to take what they say with a bit of skepticism.

15. People die usually unchanged.
Pastors and those attending tragic accidents say it is rare for death bed conversions. People who have rejected God’s free gift of his Son will usually reject him one last time when asked on their death bed.

16. Pride
Tripped and fell lately? Pride always gets in the way of relationships especially with God. But in pride there is a balance also. Too little and one has no honor to maintain or live by and too much makes them a boorish ego freak.

17. Our reaction to laws.
Humans will always push the boundaries of laws. A good example of this is the speed limit laws. If the state wants people to drive 67 mph they set the speed limit at 60 mph. The same is true of any well written law when there is room for human nature to stretch it to the point where the conduct is expected.

18. Honor
Honor is both an emotion and a behavior. It is something that has been part of the human condition for at least the last 5000 years of recorded history. As a behavior its acting with integrity, doing what is right even when no one is watching you regardless of the personal cost. As an emotion it exists in the middle between self worth and the sense of duty. There is far too little of it in our modern times.

19. Gossip and daytime TV
Show me a gossip or a person who loves the Murray Povich type shows and I will show you someone who likes to make themselves feel better from their own shortcomings by participating in the ridicule of others.

20. Leadership.
Weak leaders feel threatened by competent subordinates and will often shun them. Surrounding themselves with those that are too dull to take over their position. Strong leaders surround themselves with the very best, as if to build a NFL Super Bowl team.

21. Character and money.
It is often thought that economic position and strength of character were inverse. Modern day news even plays this fallacy. Having lived in the Philippines and South Korea I can tell you first hand that this is a lie. The rich are just as likely to act like scum bags as the poor are. For examples look at Bill Clinton, David Letterman, Martha Stewart, Leona Helmsley, Tiger Woods or most of the rich kids with their lack of work ethic and drug addictions. Strength of character is more likely to be found in the people who have pulled themselves up of poverty.

22. Sex
How many of you have scanned all way through this article just looking for this topic? 🙂
If you have lived long enough to personally experience or watch those around you you have probably noticed that relationships based on sex usually never last more then 3 to 5 years. Its a powerful part of early relationships that can make just about anyone compatible with you, at least for a short time. However it is such a powerful relationship emotion it clouds over the other aspects of relationships especially the aspects that can build a life time relationship. I’m sure you have seen a relationship at 3 years where the couple find they don’t really have anything in common. It is sad when children are a part of this. If you want a life long relationship to build try building up the shared interest and personality side of the relationship and get it stable before launching a sexual relationship.
Of all the foundations of human nature in no other category is balance more important. On one end of the balance scale we see cruel child molesters and rapist. On the other end we see those trying to deny that portion of their nature. In a perfect world the balance would have sex be one of the pillars of a healthy marriage where if children are conceived the infrastructure to raise them is already in place. When we leave this ideal arrangement in our modern times we see sexually transmitted diseases at rates higher then any other time in the history of the world. We also see the #1 cause of western poverty and that is the single parent household.

23. Love.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13)

24. Cruelty
We see cruelty in the news every day but most people feel they would never be cruel. We feel that the cruelty is an rare condition for humans. Which I wish was true. However cruelty is actually inside of each of us. Its one of the baser parts of the human condition that we abhor. It takes self discipline to keep it under wraps. The Stanford experiment was one of the best examples of how this baser side of us exists. The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted in 1971 by a team of researchers led by Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo. Twenty-four undergraduates were selected out of 70 to play the roles of both guards and prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Those selected were chosen for their lack of psychological issues, crime history, and medical disabilities, in order to obtain a representative sample. Roles were assigned based on a coin toss.
Prisoners and guards rapidly adapted to their roles, stepping beyond the boundaries of what had been predicted and leading to dangerous and psychologically damaging situations. One-third of the guards were judged to have exhibited “genuine” sadistic tendencies, while many prisoners were emotionally traumatized and two had to be removed from the experiment early. Zimbardo concluded that both prisoners and guards had become too grossly absorbed in their roles and terminated the experiment after only six days. So guard yourself for cruelty is in each of us.

25. Ideas Have Consequences.
As a people group most Americans like to promote the free flow of ideas. This has always been our strength but historically there has been a very heavy price to pay. Here are some examples. The idea of communism killed more than both world wars, the slave trade and bubonic plague all put together” Close to 60 million people in the Soviet Union, close to 72 million people in China. North Korea about 1.7 million and 1.65 million in Cambodia. These numbers are these countries own fellow citizens that were killed by the communists as they tried to place their idea into action. The Nazi’s only managed to kill around 7 million. Abortion before technology was able to show the general public that there really was a baby in that womb. The idea was “It is just a blob of cells” lead to about 46 million abortions being performed worldwide every year. A free flow of ideas are great but don’t go of half cocked with out testing your ideas to what others have done in the past.

27. Adversity
This quote really hits the mark. ” Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant” —-Quintus Horatius Flaccus—

28. Logic
Logic is still a really good way to be wrong with confidence

29. Revenge
Of all the baser human emotions revenge is one that drives the passion of almost every human. It is also one that fools us into thinking we should get revenge on those that hurt us or people we care about. But when we do it almost always turns out bad. The Bible is pretty explicit we are not to follow that emotion. We are to forgive and let God deal with any justice that is to be dealt with. “Vengeance is mine says the Lord” Of the many great lessons of wisdom found in Scripture this is one that saves us from a ton of pain by keeping us from following what our natural selves say we should do.

30. Hypocrisy
Finally something that is very close to an absolute. All humans are hypocrites, Pretty much every last one of us. Who doesn’t hold an ideal in their heart and at some time of weakness violate it in some manner be it thought or deed? Yet just because it is impossible for humans to live their lives in a manner that is perfectly aligned with their ideals doesn’t mean we should not strive for them regardless of the times we fail. When we give up on tasking ourselves to a higher standard we are no better then hippies. Even hippies violate their “what ever feels good” mentality and are part of the hypocrites that the rest of are.

31. Anger
Here is one we all struggle with. It is easy to say rule your emotions or they will rule you. However there is a point we give in and respond with anger. Its that very point where control is lost where we respond without thinking several steps ahead about the consequences. It is also that same point that is worth pushing out as far as we can for both our own well being and that of those around us. There was a movement a while back that said it is better to get it all out and off your chest but it doesn’t take long to see how living with someone like that would clearly suck. proverbs says this about anger. “A fool gives vent to his anger but a wise man keeps himself under control”. And in the Book of Ephesians this is written. “In your anger do not sin Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

32. Beauty.
One thing is certain in a relationship and that is one pretty heart is worth more then a million pretty super models.

To be continued……..