"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." [View all]

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

Frederick Douglass wrote that in 1855 in reference to a series of dialogs he had with white slave-owners who simply did not see in any way that slavery was a moral and absolute wrong.

Not that they felt badly about it and covered up the guilt with justifications, but that these slave-owners simply did not see the inherent evil of slavery. They were broken men who simply could not comprehend that what they were doing was wicked and damnable, any more than a person blind since birth can tell the difference between light and darkness.

After reading Douglass' speech, I'm beginning to re-evaluate my opinions of those who deny rape-culture (and yes angry lurkers, there is precise and academic definition of that) , those who see dating as a "game", and those who rationalize the inequalities females receive at the hand of males.

My re-evaluation leads me to believe that these poor saps are not simply denying it exists despite their actual knowledge that it does. They simply cannot see it. They are blind to it, and nothing short of a dramatic personal or emotional trauma can pull the veil back.

They are "broken men"... and I feel more pity for them than I do frustration because of them, because they are broken, have no idea they are broken, and hence, can not be fixed.



Idle thoughts on a Tuesday night.