Beloved Alienation

There is a nagging theme running through my mind that seems ripe for discussion.

It has to do with Acceptance/Rejection, Participation/Withdrawal, Approval/Disapproval, Hope/Despair, Hero/Villain, Winner/Loser, Inclusion/Exclusion, Insider/Outsider, Popularity/Loneliness.

In a word, Alienation.

The opposite of Alienation is Belovedness. When I read novels like Harry Potter, I note that almost every character is battered back and forth along this axis (or one of its many variants).

Nor is this theme especially unique to the characters in the Harry Potter series. It's a universal and oft-recurring theme in both drama and real life. And especially so in Politics.

And I daresay it's one that everyone struggles with.

It occurs to me that the impetus for this zig-zag excursion is masked beneath demonstrations of Leadership and Power. There is a fine line between Benevolent Leadership and Corrupt Power. One man's Beloved and Benevolent Leader is another man's Odious and Malignant Tyrant.

It is not so easy to neatly divide the world into Good and Evil. There are far too many axes along which to measure emotionally affecting degrees of Benevolence and Malignancy.

Perhaps these notions are best expressed in poetry, literature, and music.