..................why

what makes people do what they do? i look at the headlines in the news every day and all it seems to be is ridiculous killing, cheating, stealing,...hating. the religions of the world speak of how they have the way to a better life and a better world....but they don't seem to be making much of a difference...the same unexplainable mindset is still here....the one that would allow brother to kill brother in "our" civil war .... it is the same as what would drive someone to lie to innocent unemployed people (fathers, mothers, sons) who are desperate...lure them to a car and then kill them....what have we done to each other....i want to have faith in something which can be above this violence....but most of the times these "social structures" which try to speak of spirituality are the cause of violence...shiite, sunni, mennonite, christian, jewish....why does it really matter why do we have to continually create human structures to justify why we know more than someone else or why we are better or why someone else is not "human"... because that is the only way i can see someone could ever justify the violence that has occurred throughout history ... by creating divides people can believe that others deserve to live less than themselves.... i am comforted by the small things though.... a seemingly trite show about the "2006 iron man competition".... a man with ALS who just one year ago ran this same race and today can't even walk... yet another whom he barely knew took his cause and went 140 miles of grueling swimming, biking, and running and forced himself to finish ...why?... well i don't know but if it weren't for knowing that others out there are striving to live in true community it would be a lot tougher to remain optimistic