If there are three things I have learned to truly dislike in this world, they are sheeplike tribal groupthink, a stubborn rejection of basic empathy, and "might makes right" authoritarianism (for lack of a better description). These days, I strongly get the impression that these are the values the world now holds most dear! I never thought I'd see the world turn MORE into the kind of place where cults, radicalism, gangs, dictatorships and unproductive conflicts can thrive. We're DEvolving, not Evolving.

I have always strived to develop good boundaries, to understand people, to be kind, to do the right thing, and also to think for myself. Why am I beginning to feel like a social heretic in the times of the Inquisition? If this is what the world wants, I want no part of it. If fitting in means abandoning your values just to keep others pleased, to bow down before the tyranny of the majority wherever you may be, whatever you may think, well to heck with it all!

A sense of anomie is painful to deal with. I'm dealing with enough problems and disappointments at this stage of life, and now this too? How do you even begin to cope? Especially if, like me, assertiveness does not come easily.

Then again, in recent years I have been dealing with growing loneliness and regrets of things I never had the courage to do. Maybe that is amplifying my fears, I am open to that possibility as well.