In writing of Recovering Kindness, Pope Francis takes us to the end of his sixth chapter.
222. Consumerist individualism has led to great injustice. Other persons come to be viewed simply as obstacles to our own serene existence; we end up treating them as annoyances and we become increasingly aggressive.
There is a mistaken notion that survival-of-the-fittest is not only a biological fact but an economic/social reality. In hard science, it’s actually a misnomer. There are many examples of cooperation within and among species. Symbiosis strengthens two or more individuals, and gives lie to the notion that everybody is always and everywhere in competition.
Socially, Christianity would reject any notion of competition.
This is even more the case in times of crisis, catastrophe and hardship, when we are tempted to think in terms of the old saying, “every man for himself”. Yet even then, we can choose to cultivate kindness. Those who do so become stars shining in the midst of darkness.
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