A Hospital Without a Heart

A lesbian is denied access to her injured partner in a hospital. This is the latest example of a hospital behaving abominably.

We need to move toward a world where bonds between people are nourished and encouraged. It is in our self-interest to encourage social bonds, because these promote the greatest happiness. The more unhappiness in the world, the more it will perpetuate. Emotions are shared between people faster than viruses. If you have ever passed a stranger with a frown or a scowl, even though no words may have passed, you felt an alteration, however trivial, in your own mood.

You cannot render a cruelty upon one person or one group and then expect the damage to be confined solely to that target. Such an expectation is unrealistic, because in reality we are interconnected, like points on a net. Pressure applied to one point also pulls at other points. What happens to one influences all. Examples are made, and examples are followed, and sometimes, new variables are introduced. If today the victims are the homosexuals, then tomorrow, why not a religious minority or ethnic minority? What is done to one, will be done to others.

Relationships stabilize and pacify. A nomadic and loveless existence does not lend itself to well-being for most people. If one has no intimate ties with others, then what basis can there be for morality? Morality depends upon close intimate ties. Monogamy, insofar as it lends itself to healthy relationships for many people, should be encouraged and cherished. Healthy, long-term relationships are in the public interest, and society must not pass up the golden opportunity to enfranchise additional recruits. Every bit helps. Enfranchise the ones who wish to eat bread and drink wine with you. Accept them into your group. Your group will then be the wealthier and the wiser. Assimilation increases the strength of the absorbing body. United, we are more than we are if we are divided.

To the extent that relationships are discouraged, a society becomes more aggressive. The differences between our relatives on the evolutionary tree, the Chimpanzee and the Bonobo, illustrate the consequences of aggression. The warlike chimps have battles that result in dead chimps, and bloody struggles for dominance that sometimes result in injuries or fatalities. The Bonobos, on the other hand, spend their days loving one another, both in the physical and brotherly sense, with the result that violent conflict is seldom heard of among Bonobos, and when such conflict does arise, it seldom results in severe injury.

Human society can proceed in either manner. We can behave like the warlike chimps and spend our days fighting and committing atrocities that will stand to accuse mankind through the ages. The history books seem to have enough of those things. Or we can behave like Bonobos and simply accept and enjoy relationships with others. The choice is between misery and happiness. Although misery nourishes the ego, happiness feeds the whole person. Happiness should win.