I've recently become aware of an epidemic and I think you should become aware of it too. I think this epidemic has infected many of our families and communities, our government, our country, and at times, the entire world. There is a cure and the cure is easy to say, but harder to do. It is also necessary if we really want to build a better world for our future. And I haven't yet met anyone who thought everything was going along swimmingly in the world, just the way things were- have you?
Here is the issue: OURSELVES. We keep creating divisions instead of creating constructive discussions. What's worse is we create divisions and then pass them down to our children and over to our friends like a communicable disease and once we've identified ourselves or been identified by someone else as a member of a specific, so-called division, we then experience the knee-jerk need to defend our division and accuse the other division at all costs. This is a very unattractive and harmful symptom of an overwhelmingly hostile epidemic called US vs YOU.
Some people are so far gone in this epidemic as to have lost the ability to see fellow humans as fellow humans and instead only see the approved facetious adjectives their division has assigned to a rival division. You hear terribly offensive name-calling and personal attacks. You hear false statements proclaiming to be facts. You see friendships and families torn apart. You see unspeakable violence and anonymous people yelling obscenities at other anonymous people over computers, finding ways to bridge a gap of half the world in distance, only to shatter it with a total lack of willingness to try to understand each other.
What divisions do you belong to? Republican? Democrat? Atheist? Muslim? Christian? American? Israeli? Mexican? The 1%? The 99%? How has it effected the way you communicate with someone from another "division"? Do you feel yourself immediately going on the defensive? Find yourself prone to using derogatory nick-names, racial-slurs, and throwing statistical facts out (with links, no less!) without first taking the time to research and understand how statistics work and what the "other divisions" statistics may say? If so, you have likely been infected by the US vs YOU epidemic and should begin treatment immediately as you are contributing to the downfall of society.
I realize that last sentence may be taken as exaggeration, but know that it is meant sincerely. You may be feeling your insides begin to clinch and find your defenses heightened as I have switched from using the inclusive and non-divisory "us" and "we" to using "I" and "you." I have created a division between us now and it is only natural that you begin to feel a need to defend whatever it is I may be attacking about you. I am not going to attack you, though, so you may relax. In fact, I have been infected by this epidemic as well. I am in treatment now and writing this is one part of my treatment.
When we cling to our divisions so tightly that we stop seeing the humanity in our fellow divisions, we have ceased evolving as a species and turned into a self-destructive time bomb. When Democrats and Republicans see themselves firstly as Democrats and Republicans instead of simply humans, they stop working for what humanity needs and instead work to defeat each other and by doing so cease benefiting humanity. When churches and mosques and temples see each other as blasphemous competition, they cease being of service to people and instead put people in danger of the kind of ignorant piety that breeds extremists. When we exaggerate facts to make our points heard, or knee-jerk a defense we were armed with second-hand, or expel cruel bashes about public figures in opposing divisions, we cease using the many, amazing capabilities we've been given as human beings- to learn, to understand, to have empathy, to be inclusive, to have patience, to admit a short coming, to ask for help, to hear someone else's perspective in full and respect their perspective and put ourselves in their shoes and ask questions instead of jump to down-putting and name-calling. We as human beings have the capacity to be better human beings than we have been!
From our Facebook feed to Yahoo comments to family dinner to political rallies, it's time to let go of our divisions. It's time to take up our similarity as humans who can be better humans and start working through our lives from a place of inclusivity. We must make a commitment- and this is the hard part- to lay down our knee-jerk defenses and pride and instead start from a place of humility. We must agree to cease all name-calling full stop as it is only ever negative and toxic to all involved. We must agree to only enter into dialogues with the intent to GAIN understanding and not to attack. We must agree that there will be many times when we will fail to understand each other, but must not let this keep us from trying or allow this failure to give us a false illusion of "rights" to put the other party down. If we do these things, we will be a more productive, supportive, nurturing, happier, and healthier society.
Here is the issue: OURSELVES. We keep creating divisions instead of creating constructive discussions. What's worse is we create divisions and then pass them down to our children and over to our friends like a communicable disease and once we've identified ourselves or been identified by someone else as a member of a specific, so-called division, we then experience the knee-jerk need to defend our division and accuse the other division at all costs. This is a very unattractive and harmful symptom of an overwhelmingly hostile epidemic called US vs YOU.
Some people are so far gone in this epidemic as to have lost the ability to see fellow humans as fellow humans and instead only see the approved facetious adjectives their division has assigned to a rival division. You hear terribly offensive name-calling and personal attacks. You hear false statements proclaiming to be facts. You see friendships and families torn apart. You see unspeakable violence and anonymous people yelling obscenities at other anonymous people over computers, finding ways to bridge a gap of half the world in distance, only to shatter it with a total lack of willingness to try to understand each other.
What divisions do you belong to? Republican? Democrat? Atheist? Muslim? Christian? American? Israeli? Mexican? The 1%? The 99%? How has it effected the way you communicate with someone from another "division"? Do you feel yourself immediately going on the defensive? Find yourself prone to using derogatory nick-names, racial-slurs, and throwing statistical facts out (with links, no less!) without first taking the time to research and understand how statistics work and what the "other divisions" statistics may say? If so, you have likely been infected by the US vs YOU epidemic and should begin treatment immediately as you are contributing to the downfall of society.
I realize that last sentence may be taken as exaggeration, but know that it is meant sincerely. You may be feeling your insides begin to clinch and find your defenses heightened as I have switched from using the inclusive and non-divisory "us" and "we" to using "I" and "you." I have created a division between us now and it is only natural that you begin to feel a need to defend whatever it is I may be attacking about you. I am not going to attack you, though, so you may relax. In fact, I have been infected by this epidemic as well. I am in treatment now and writing this is one part of my treatment.
When we cling to our divisions so tightly that we stop seeing the humanity in our fellow divisions, we have ceased evolving as a species and turned into a self-destructive time bomb. When Democrats and Republicans see themselves firstly as Democrats and Republicans instead of simply humans, they stop working for what humanity needs and instead work to defeat each other and by doing so cease benefiting humanity. When churches and mosques and temples see each other as blasphemous competition, they cease being of service to people and instead put people in danger of the kind of ignorant piety that breeds extremists. When we exaggerate facts to make our points heard, or knee-jerk a defense we were armed with second-hand, or expel cruel bashes about public figures in opposing divisions, we cease using the many, amazing capabilities we've been given as human beings- to learn, to understand, to have empathy, to be inclusive, to have patience, to admit a short coming, to ask for help, to hear someone else's perspective in full and respect their perspective and put ourselves in their shoes and ask questions instead of jump to down-putting and name-calling. We as human beings have the capacity to be better human beings than we have been!
From our Facebook feed to Yahoo comments to family dinner to political rallies, it's time to let go of our divisions. It's time to take up our similarity as humans who can be better humans and start working through our lives from a place of inclusivity. We must make a commitment- and this is the hard part- to lay down our knee-jerk defenses and pride and instead start from a place of humility. We must agree to cease all name-calling full stop as it is only ever negative and toxic to all involved. We must agree to only enter into dialogues with the intent to GAIN understanding and not to attack. We must agree that there will be many times when we will fail to understand each other, but must not let this keep us from trying or allow this failure to give us a false illusion of "rights" to put the other party down. If we do these things, we will be a more productive, supportive, nurturing, happier, and healthier society.
Society is a big place and I know that I can't do it by myself and that you can't do it by yourself and even just the two of us can't do it by ourselves. It's going to take all of us, doing the best we can individually to make our society the best it can be. It is my belief that leading by example is the best way to get your point across. Sometimes writing a blog helps, but only if you also practice what you preach. It's going to be hard to get rid of old habits. We will have set backs. It's going to be hard to let go of divisions. It's going to be really, really hard to see ourselves without all of those labels, but I think that the sooner we do, the less angry we will feel and the easier it will be to talk with a wider range of people on a wider range of topics in a much more enjoyable, stimulating and conducive manner. We'll probably make a lot more friends, too. And if we're lucky, we might just learn a thing or two that we didn't know before!
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