Thursday, September 20, 2018

Essays for my children: They Are Us

WE are US.
THEY are THEM.
THEY are not US. 
THEY are different from US.
THEY cannot be trusted like US.
THEY are against US. 
THEY must hate US.
THEY must go.

YOU do not agree with US?!

YOU are THEM.
YOU are not US. 
YOU are different from US.
YOU cannot be trusted like US.
YOU are against US.
YOU must hate US.
YOU must go.

In the great span of humanity's existence, the circle of division simplified above has been repeated immeasurable times, in incalculable scenarios, and in innumerable places throughout the world. In each scenario, the use of division has allowed human beings to sub-classify other human beings as something other than being human. Light Skin vs. Dark Skin, Man vs. Woman, Religion vs. Religion, Straight vs. Gay, Nationality vs. Nationality, Class vs. Class, Region vs. Region, Party vs. Party...an endless stream of subcategorized combatants fighting divisional rivalries for a supremacy that has always been briefly held and ultimately slipped the grasp by the advancement of time. 

Within each rivalry, each pitched confrontation, each deplorable conflict that has devolved into suffering and strife; the price paid was in the commonality of the opponents - Our Shared Humanity. The resilience, advancement, and continued existence of our species is hindered by our painfully adept ability to dehumanize each other to facilitate the subjugation of those deemed inferior. Within the current of our global society, at this point in human history, the opening of all boarders, the breaking down of all barriers, and the acceptance of all differences is an idealistic impossibility. 

However, if we can find the will to wield compassion and extend dignity as easily as we delve into conflict and sow division, then we may truly be able to rise to the virtue in the nature of our better angels and realize a future far greater than any imagined by our forebears. The hope of future prosperity and the thriving of all peoples lies within the ability of humanity to strive continuously toward overcoming indifference, intolerance, and bigotry in the embrace of a most basic realization: THEY are US and WE are THEM for WE are ALL Human Beings.