At the end of the day each of us is simply human regardless of our status in life. We all bleed when cut. We all need air to breathe. We all eventually grow old and die in spite of our efforts to cling to life just a bit longer. People that you have never met and never will meet have dreams just like you do. While we have always had a tendency to rank people based on wealth, intelligence, power, beauty and other superficial aspects when all is said and done we humans are more alike than different.
We are born with incredible potential to become the best versions of ourselves. Whether or not that happens is often related to circumstance. In some places it is easier to become self actualized than in others where simply satisfying most basic needs can be a lifelong struggle. Those of us who live in highly advanced countries are more likely to enjoy perks than many fellow humans in the world will never see. The most fortunate and privileged among us were often simply in the right place at the right time to demonstrate their talents and enrich themselves. We too often take our way of life for granted and judge people from other countries and cultures to be somehow lesser than ourselves.
From the beginning of human time people roamed the earth hunting and gathering in order to survive. Over time they learned how to cultivate the land and build communities but of course all did not always go well. The history of humanity is replete with struggles for land and well being. The tendencies to create communities and pecking orders often resulted in friction between differing groups. All the while civilizations attempted to find ways of living with one another that have never been perfect. As the earth itself changed so too did the needs of humankind and along with that change came a kind of survival of the fittest mentality that exists to this very day in one way or another.
In today’s world entire countries compete with one another and within those countries different factions war with one another over how best to live. Such seems to be the nature of the human experience. Still I find myself wondering if we have yet to discover what might work best. So far all attempts to create a more perfect union of cooperation among millions of people simply trying to live together peacefully and happily have been wrought with problems. Somehow no matter how hard we try to equalize our situations we end up with winners and losers often due to little more than the luck where they are born and who their parents are. Even with our myriad problems in the United States it would be a mistake not to realize how much better our individual situations are than those in countries beset by poverty and endless wars or violence.
I often think back to the conversations that I shared with my mother-in-law on Sunday afternoons over cups of tea. We would talk about history, philosophy, religion and politics as they related to how we should behave toward our fellow humans. My mother-in-law was a very spiritual woman and deep thinker who challenged herself to think critically about the world. She once told me that she believed that the suffering of most of the people on earth was so great that if we did not voluntarily share our bounty with them, they would one day unite and force us to see them and to understand their suffering. She believed that we were not doing enough to consider that our way of life was not the only way to do things. She felt that we would have to learn how to evolve in our thinking if we were to survive as citizens of the world.
When I look at the problems that we face today I think of those Sunday chats with my mother-in-law. I try to imagine what she would think of building walls and creating barriers with concertina wire along our borders. I try to imagine her reaction to the murder and taking of hostages in Israel overlayed with the genocidal decimation of the population in Gaza. I would like to hear her thoughts on Putin’s murderous invasion of Ukraine and the feeble excuses he uses for making war. Somehow I know that she would remind me of her warning that we cannot look away when people are suffering and not expect them to lose patience with the way things have always been. Unfairness and dominance lead to desperation which leads to breaking the law and sometimes to making war.
My mother-in-law taught me that we cannot see people in stereotyped groups. Instead we must think of them as individuals. We have to ask ourselves why someone is willing to risk his or her life to cross our borders and invoke our ire. What is so terrible in their lives that embracing uncertainty is their only hope? These are real people who may seem different from each of us, but in reality they only want an opportunity to change the direction of their lives. Why are we so hateful about them? Why are we so unwilling to hear what they have to say and to treat them with respect rather than reducing them to preconceived notions of who they are?
It is doubtful that we will solve all of the world’s problems but we can begin by at least admitting that but for the luck of the draw we might be the people struggling for dignity and freedom. Once we begin to think differently about our place in the world maybe we will be able to craft plans that limit our tribal instincts to close the gates and bring out the weapons to keep those who appear different from ourselves at bay. We would do well to remember that unless we have descended from Native Americans many of us have ancestors who came across the ocean in search of hope and some sadly came in bondage. Who are we to judge those who want the same opportunities that we now take for granted? It’s time we all learned to really see our fellow humans as our equals who are more like us than we may think.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 