Growing Up...

"...until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens; until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; until that day, the dream of lasting peace and true citizenship and the rule of morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained; until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; until all people stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; until that day, we shall not know peace...” - taken from Ethiopian Emperor H.I.M. Haile Selassie’s address to the United Nations on October 1963


There is much we can learn from these words, much we should take away to our own condition and re-examine our position in light of everyone elses'.

I write this because it seems that thinking men no longer point the way. There is so much political posturing now, and the abscence of any real enemy is leading to the creation of false enemies based on imagining; the problem is, even make believed enemies can be made to appear real by deceitful and opportunistic men.

We are witnessing a significant break down between the races as the 'us' against 'them' posturing, begging for clarification of who 'them' realy is, is devolving into racism and tribalism. The news we are trying to ignore is the beating of the drums of war.

There can be no good fruit harvested here, and we would be hard pressed to find reason among the ruins if we were to allow our thinking to be done with our fists.

Our collective history has so much to teach us if we would just pay attention. That we must never allow the greedy desires of small men to separate us from ourselves; tribalism in the face of all that unites us is foolish.

Our struggle has always been a common struggle, one people divided by country of origin, regardless of the terms by which we got here. We accomplish little if we remain shackled to the past, still clinging to the hopes of righting wrongs committed. There are parts of our history that we remember only for guidance, they do nothing to alter our tomorrow for the better. Sometimes moving on requires letting go.

There is no real Motherland or Fatherland for any of us anymore. That we look for ideals in far away places, not mindful of the good that exists all around us is a testament to how much we still have to grow. To see only the wrong where so much right grows is to ignore the simplest of truths; that each life, our life, is just a thread, but where those threads encounter other threads is where we weave a tapestry that is our collective history and the future for our children.

This politics of 'us' against 'them' is the root of all that is wrong in our society, put in place to prevent us from finding our collective intelligent voice, and indeed our strength.
Until we understand that we cannot divide ourselves from our selves and still reach our highest place we are going nowhere. This journey is one of shared struggle, commanlity of purpose and a vision of a better place for our children, and where our old have finally rested their heads.

There are some who only have selfish dreams, who are only here for self enrichment to leave for other shores. That is also good. Even the finest tapestries have threads that are cut off to improve the whole.

Do not make these ideals hollow, for what we will be left with is the shadow of a dream and the footprints of great men, who, once having paused here to share, have been made to go on their way.

“...When we talk of the equality of man, we find, also, a challenge and an opportunity; a challenge to breathe new life into the ideals, an opportunity to bring men closer to freedom and true equality. and thus, closer to a love of peace...." - Emperor H.I.M. Haile Selassie

Something to think about...