No Difference

“The only difference between man and man all the world over

 is one of degree, and not of kind, 

even as there is between trees of the same species.

Where in is the cause for anger, envy or discrimination?” 

(Mahatma Gandhi)

I have grown up in a culture pregnant with prejudice. As a child I learned (not from my parents, mind you) some rather distasteful ideas about our First-Nations brothers and sisters and those "East Indian" immigrants. On the surface I did not accept these perceptions and attitudes and I have always considered myself open to the beauty of all colors and flavors of the human race. Nonetheless, planted below the surface of my thoughts are some insidious racist seeds. I know they are there, lying dormant because sometimes when I cross paths with someone who is visually distinctive as a First-Nations person something in me reacts. A tiny voice whispers, "Indian, less, other, danger." I hear that voice and I acknowledge it even as I move past it. Still, it is there.

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

(1 John 2:9, ESV)

How incredibly sad that such a voice exists at all. I cannot imagine what it is in humanity that causes us to hate each other so thoroughly. We are one species, all created in the image of God, all loved by Christ. And still, racial discrimination flourishes world-wide. What is wrong with us?

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. 

And it doesn't matter which color does the hating.

It's just plain wrong.”

(Cassius Clay - Muhammad Ali)

As one committed to the path of Love I find myself in conflict with this discrimination. Racial based jokes are not funny (though I have too often laughed along with the crowd) and I no longer want to laugh to withhold offending the teller. I feel sad for all of us when we think that we can wound one part of humanity, laugh at the wounding, and not know that we have just wounded ourselves.

To be healers of our world will involve removing the warped lenses of bigotry and racism. It will require a commitment to seeing each other beyond color, race, creed or any other discriminator. The minute differences that arise from race or nationality are meaningless next to our common humanness. Look at that woman, at that man - they bleed, they yearn, they grieve, they hope, they laugh, they cry, they fail, they succeed... just like me. Just like you. Is it really so much to ask that we simply be open to the experience of someone else's life? To hear their story, to offer compassion? 

Those committed to the path of Love and healing have hard work ahead of them - not the work of changing the world, but that of changing ourselves. Perhaps it is time to remove our blinders, to see the gift of humanity's diversity, to know our unity beyond that diversity.

I leave the last word to Jesus:

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you,

do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

(Matthew 7:12, ESV)

 Pax

Pastor Bill

Be

Be still

Be still and know

that God

is

Love

And so

Are

You

Be true

to you

Breathe

[First published October 10, 2012]