> What bother me then, I must think, is that I know I'm on a harder path than that. To me, and to the people in the "me" group (insofar as I can tell, anyhow), it *does* matter what my actions do to other people, and it *does* matter whether or not something is right or wrong. No, we may not always know in every situation what is right or wrong, but we try. And we care. And it's harder that way. We don't do what we want in every situation, and we don't always insist upon getting our own way. And it is difficult to keep up such a vigil in the face of so many who don't so much as care. It's saddening, and, while I don't think that's all of what I'm unhappy about, I do think it's part of it. I'm just plain *tired,* really, as one is apt to be following hard work.

I don't have any insights, but if it helps, I know where you're coming from. I've been there myself and it's such a big question -- the more you think about it, the bigger a question it becomes. Why some of us care, and others don't, and how those of us in the first group can find a way to cope with all the issues arising from that ... everything about humanity and the world and life is in that problem. It's *the* big question, or part of it, and better minds than mine have been trying to answer it for thousands of years. Millions, for all I know.

It's not the occasional really big major example which gets to you, but the cumulative effect of all the little daily ones, like the guy you mentioned.

When a caring person becomes aware of this and it gets them down, the danger is that they will be overwhelmed by it and end up joining the noncaring group. I think most people naturally go through a phase of this anyway: when you first realise in a hitting-you-personally way how much is wrong with the world, sometimes there is no other way you can cope with it. The people who go through life not caring never saw anything more in the world that would take them out the other side of this phase.

What *does* take people out the other side probably is different for everybody. What gives us the desire, the strength and the rationale to try to do the right thing, even if nobody else does, even if it will make no difference whatsoever to anybody, even if it will actually make your own life harder? I don't know. I'm glad there are people who do it anyway, not knowing why they still care, and I hope you can someday find your own answer in your life.

Brunnen-"and if you do, please tell me what it is, because I need to know too"G