edited and spell checked version

Happy holidays for miracles and savior births.
Our humanity is not as strong as we might think. It takes only 5 or 6 days for normal compassionate people to lose their way. 30 years ago an experiment, where a flip of a coin determined if the subjects were to play guards or prisoners, showed how easy we change. The guards began to take pride in cruelty. They became vicious while the prisoners suffered complete nervous breakdowns.
This reaction is most likely to happen with a group or team but seldom by an individual.
For example: When one person is in a room they are certain to report smoke billowing from beneath a door but put 3 people in the room and each of them wait for someone else to do something which results in no action being taken by anyone.

This is how Nazi guards were able to laugh at the shrieking damned as they climbed a pyramid of bodies composed of neighbors, friends and family escape Cyclon B. Or how air was sucked from thousands of lungs in Dresden or how the Japanese briefly saw themselves glow incandescent while the pilot above passively ate a Milky Way. This is how American Abu Graib prison became a torture chamber as it was under Saddam. This is how innocent people die in police detention and how blind vengeance turns endless. This is how millions of Jews were so easily herded into cattle cars. This is how Jonestown Kool Aid was made. This is how America can now invade, kill and torture while declaring democracy, justice, technical legalities and innocence.

What is most disturbing is the belief that you are immune from this group dynamic, you are not. With a uniform signifying authority, attending a mass religious or political gathering or a normal wholesome team spirit, all the humanity one thinks they have can vanish in moments. Its not just mob mentality, it can happen with as few as 3 people.
The one person who does differently than the group to attempt the right thing is sometimes called a Hero, a boy scout, a whistle blower or even a traitor. Those who go along may be called company men, loyalists, patriots or simply main stream. Certain small but influential groups actively polarize peaceful people in order to divide and conquer. This is how the saviors who simply call for peace may also become the martyrs. Humanity it seems is not in the business of saving their saviors. We deny them.

This is how my compassionate neighbor who might spend many hours a week in religious worship openly called for harm to come to certain neighbors in town. He does not see it as bigotry, fear mongering, or hate; instead he sees it as not tolerating evil any longer. He even takes pride in his call for cruelty as proof of his righteousness. Yet he too thinks himself immune from the loss of his humanity. His church believes that gays are attacking their family. While no such attack has occured or evidence of harm demonstrated the group insists upon a terrible retribution. As scape goats go I suppose gays are targets most safe to attack. The next scape goats are certain "other religions" then color, then perhaps you.

I hope you are the one who could be the hero. Not in fighting but in saving. I hope that you love your family and children and feel goodness for the families and children surrounding you. The fact is, the odds are against you. The only defense you have against all the hate and weapons in the world is your personal communication, your personal faith and your personal expression of love for your neighbors in this world. The defense against tyranny that we all share is within a healthy US Constitution.

Merry Christmas