I am reading a book about an American Indian Chief and his tribe, the Comanches.  It is a very interesting book about life in the mid 1800′s in Texas.  What startles me most about the book is the cruelty of the Indians to other tribes and the settlers, as well as the cruelty by the pioneers to the Indians.

During this period of time, babies were dragged from horses, in order to kill them in a prolonged way.  Children were tortured.  Women were gang raped, slowly burned alive, and kept as slaves.  The brutality is common and protracted during the struggle for the ownership of Texas.

I always read non-fiction.  I love to read about history.  However, a disturbing theme is emerging from my reading of everything from African slavery in America to Nazi Germany, are people of all nationalities and cultures – barbaric deep down inside?

Throughout history, there are so many deaths, so many atrocities committed in the name of war, hate, power or greed.  I would like to see them as isolated incidents, but are they?

Are we all are capable of inhuman acts in certain circumstances?  How can we distinguish ourselves from all of the people throughout the history of the world that are capable of torture and murder?  Does it take an event, a tragedy, or a war to turn us into animals built of hate and revenge?

I cannot picture myself harming others or torturing anyone.  I would rather die than harm an infant.  But I cannot help but wonder if the Nazis, before the death camps, saw themselves the same way.

What changes?  What switch in our conscious changes to nonhuman?  I do not know the answer, but I cannot deny the very real potential of the human race at anytime, to turn to madness.  History does repeat itself and have we really learned from the past?