On being different...

Psychologist to patient:

“I’m afraid you have a unique and interesting personality trait. I’m going to give you some pills so you can blend in with the rest of the boring masses.” ~Author Unknown

Different take, same thought:

“Don’t get my personality and my attitude twisted, because my personality is me, and my attitude depends on you.”                                                                        ~Author Unknown

And yet another take:

“When I was a child you told me that I could be anything I wanted to be. You never told me I couldn’t be who I really am.”                 ~Americans for Marriage Equality

And finally, another thought that brings these three items together:

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”     ~Elie Wiesel

Fighting the aftermath of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel has become a champion of champions. He has delved into this hideous subject. He has viewed the historical record on mankind’s inhumanity toward man. He captures the horror; but also the cause. The fear of difference. The barrier from feeling and sensibility; to protect self while becoming insensitive to the peril of others. Self preservation pushing out logic and thought. Dehumanizing the ‘other’. Think Jew in the 1930’s and 40’s. Think Afro-Americans throughout the American slave era. Think adultery during the early puritan history of New England states. Think out of wedlock babies in the era prior to the American 1970’s. Think labor and management. Think poor and rich. Think middle class and welfare class. Think black and white, yellow and white, brown and white, immigrant and native.

Think gay and straight. Think religious and ___? Think. Think. Think.

Standing silent while we make others lesser persons for whatever reason is wrong. Plain and simple. We must return to self control. And justice. We are capable of great things; and great hurt. The yin and yang of modern life. As it always has been. What we think is natural often is not.

We must do better. We can do better.

In closing I wish to share a statement from Mahatma Gandhi:

“It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their fellow beings.”

Yes; a mystery. But it happens. It is on full view in protests, public debates, the not-careful-discussion of ideas where someone is put down because of their view or personhood. Belittled. Bullied. Scorned. In public. To cower the other. To lessen their worth. Ugly. But human behavior. We need to think on this and pull back. We need to give others space to be.

To give difference its rightful place. In peace and dignity.

June 9, 2012