Wow, that's a big question. I don't know, really. I don't, always. It's just that when I'm feeling really hopeless I don't talk about it much.
I do have a basic, possibly inborn belief that people are basically good. Even people who do stupid and awful things, I think most of them either a) have been twisted by religion or culture into believing that they are doing the right thing, or b) have simply lost hope and, consequently, reason. And while people in groups tend to drive me nuts with their susceptibility to least-common-denominator, mob-type thinking, individuals tend to surprise me--once you break through the surface--with their genuine thoughtfulness and decency. I've had some amazing interactions with people whom I vehemently disagree with which make it difficult for me to dismiss their viewpoints as simply irrational or outmoded. By extension, there have to be many, many people like that in the world. So I have hope that when people actually talk to each other, their common desire to improve things will win out. Even if it often doesn't seem to work that way.
As to compassion, I think that, despite the foundation for it that was laid when I was a kid, that's something I had to learn. I can't even watch some of the action movies I used to when I was in high school, because screen violence bothers me in a way it never used to. Somewhere in my twenties human suffering became less abstract to me, I suppose because of my own experience. Not that I've suffered through a great deal myself, or even witnessed a great amount of suffering, but I think that small portion was enough to extrapolate from. I can get pretty emotional about things I see on the news. 9/11 was devastating to me. The deaths were one thing, but I hurt more for the survivors, because they could have been anyone. They could have been me.
This is probably a really bad/frustrating answer to your question, but it's the best I can come up with at the moment.
no subject
I do have a basic, possibly inborn belief that people are basically good. Even people who do stupid and awful things, I think most of them either a) have been twisted by religion or culture into believing that they are doing the right thing, or b) have simply lost hope and, consequently, reason. And while people in groups tend to drive me nuts with their susceptibility to least-common-denominator, mob-type thinking, individuals tend to surprise me--once you break through the surface--with their genuine thoughtfulness and decency. I've had some amazing interactions with people whom I vehemently disagree with which make it difficult for me to dismiss their viewpoints as simply irrational or outmoded. By extension, there have to be many, many people like that in the world. So I have hope that when people actually talk to each other, their common desire to improve things will win out. Even if it often doesn't seem to work that way.
As to compassion, I think that, despite the foundation for it that was laid when I was a kid, that's something I had to learn. I can't even watch some of the action movies I used to when I was in high school, because screen violence bothers me in a way it never used to. Somewhere in my twenties human suffering became less abstract to me, I suppose because of my own experience. Not that I've suffered through a great deal myself, or even witnessed a great amount of suffering, but I think that small portion was enough to extrapolate from. I can get pretty emotional about things I see on the news. 9/11 was devastating to me. The deaths were one thing, but I hurt more for the survivors, because they could have been anyone. They could have been me.
This is probably a really bad/frustrating answer to your question, but it's the best I can come up with at the moment.