Born with a Brush

I met Lewis tonight who shared his story growing up. At eleven years old, he lost his father. In order to take revenge of the loss, he did everything wrong and bad possible. At eighteen years old, he wanted to kill himself since he felt a rotten self. Miraculously, he became a spiritual consultant after 50 years.

Being logical, I asked him how he knew what he was doing from eleven to eighteen was wrong? How did he get the moral benchmark? Was the moral standard taught or something we were born with?

To which extent we are teachable on which matter? If education is to fill us with information or ways to think, aren’t we doomed to be in the shadow of people who pass them to us? Is every baby a blank canvas, leaving the adults to paint colors they believe are correct?

Listening to the slavery stories made my daily commute extra heavy. ‘The only way to freedom for them (slaves) is death’. (I would like to be born as a vegetable at that terrible time to be honest). I assume schools back then would teach nothing about the evilness of the system, as slavery was seen as normal and schools are institutional effort to pass down values and facts seen as correct by the administrator. So how did it happen someone realised the cruelness of the slavery machine?

So I do think every baby comes out with his/her own brush, which allows them to freely construct meanings of certain things without being taught by their human seniors.