It’s fall and the annual transformation of the trees is a sight to behold. A beautiful array of varying shades of red, yellow and orange spread across the landscape. As I drive down the road, cars are lined up and waiting in a line half a mile long outside a popular arboretum for the opportunity to catch just a glimpse of nature’s beauty and its’ many colors. And yet I wonder how many of those same people don’t appreciate the varying shades of us.
As children we are essentially color blind, so what is the trigger that develops misguided perspectives of each other. It’s something that has baffled many of us within our society for so long and it haunts me personally to an extent because of my own faults as I matured over the years. I definitely allowed stereotypical perceptions to cloud my own views in my late teens. It wasn’t until I hit a reset button within my mind and started anew that I began to hunger for and appreciate the many cultures that make up humankind. And it’s that last point that somehow gets lost in our society. We are all human and for all our differences, at our core we are the same.
This goes beyond race although I will return to that thought. In a desire to understand what had driven a wedge between us for centuries, I took on the endeavor of reading and studying the three major religious texts over the past decade. Being raised by Catholic parents, I began with the Bible. Not being a Christian myself, I still appreciated the perspective, its’ teachings and the historical stories it shared. Immediately after, I delved into the Quran. What amazed me afterwards is that most of what I had been fed by the American media in how the Quran preached so much violence couldn’t have been further from the truth. I felt like I was reading the Bible all over again as one story after another was told of Moses. Naively, I felt the Torah would provide a more significant difference to the old testament, but there I was again, reading the same stories. The same teachings. So how did these religions with such similar foundations grow to have such large factions that loathe their counterparts? Enough so that one’s religious beliefs provide somehow a justification to wage war against another. Are we such pack animals that we simply adhere to the rules of the pack and lack enough individualism to break the mold and seek inclusion and understanding of all beliefs?
To the day I die, I’ll remember when I commented on my observations to a Christian after reading the Quran. I simply summarized that when you took a step back, the only significant difference is one believing Jesus to be the son of God and one did not. Their abrupt and condescending retort was ‘that is a big difference, don’t you think? One you can’t overlook and why they need to hear and understand the truth’. What truth? What makes one right and another wrong? They were so devoted and blindly faithful to the pack that they could not see beyond the narrow differences in beliefs. I understand that the faith in Jesus being the son of God is the essence of Christianity and I respect that. But why does that one piece close off so many from at least rejoicing in the similarities of their counterpart faiths? Why does that belief provide in their perspective some type of superiority that was driving a cause to send missionaries to Muslim countries in attempt to convert people to what they held onto as the only truth and salvation? Questions that have plagued others like me in the middle for centuries.
But let’s now return to race. The colors of our skin which are just that – colors – pigments. They do not define us. They are simply a way to describe how we look. Although nonsensical to me, I can somewhat wrap my mind around religious groups to have such divisions since those beliefs are so engrained in who they are and incorporate such passionate feelings. But why then would a Christian of one color despise and seek out to cause harm to another Christian simply because they were a different color? And I’m not talking about white hate versus black. Racism is and always will be a multi lane highway between all cultures. According to a study in 2015, fifty three percent of the world’s population identified themselves as either Christian or Muslim, so what I dissect from that is too many have no real comprehension then of their own religion to breed such a hateful society. The teachings of those two religions if read and studied properly and not influenced by someone else’s interpretation do not preach hate and violence despite what some politician or jihadist leader may want you to believe.
If you’re reading this and you are dismissing my perspective that this a problem that plagues humanity, then you have that right. Some may believe that I am exaggerating on my observations. That our society has come a long way since the civil rights era. That we are more accepting and understanding of others, but I do not see that at all. Although subtle, I believe we have taken multiple steps backwards. The things I heard said to people of Spanish origin after Donald Trump was elected was appalling. Children are locked in cages at our borders. African Americans continue to be targeted by our law enforcement agencies and are being incarcerated at an alarming rate versus other races. I hear the snide remarks and comments about the large Indian population that makes their home in my area. Native Americans are still castaways in this country with little to no representation. They are essentially considered second class citizens. The U.S. government continues to break treaties and ravage their land if it means lining the pockets of major corporations. Asian women are being exploited and trafficked at a rate that rivals the African slave trade days. And all of this driven by one simple difference. The color of our skin. People feel that they can do this to others because they are inferior in some way. Like they’re not really people because they’re not like us (insert whatever group you want for us). Again, this is not just white transgressions. A teacher friend of mine who is white and works in a predominantly black school mentioned to me once the struggle she went through daily in trying to change the perspective of her students that viewed white people as the cause to any of their problems. But somehow, she was different. According to her students, she didn’t get lumped in with other white people because they knew her, and she wasn’t like other whites. That’s just it. Too many people simply don’t realize and don’t care to see that those they are misperceiving, mistreating, enslaving or disrespecting are just like them because they don’t truly understand the individual within that race or care to try.
I am from an Irish Catholic family, born and raised in an area that is probably ninety nine percent white in the middle of Illinois farmland. I loved where I grew up. I fit the basic stereotypes of being an Irish American country boy (takes a sip of bourbon then goes back to typing). My wife was born in Manila, was an immigrant to the U.S. when she was very young and raised on the west side of Chicago. Her family is what you envision as a stereotypical Filipino Catholic family. It took me months to remember every cousin’s name and which Aunts and Uncles were actual blood relatives and not just part of the weekly prayer group. Other than being raised Catholic, we couldn’t have come from different worlds. But at the end of the day, our two packs both love to put a pig on a spit, drink and have a good time. Playing poker in a barn now turned into playing poker in a basement of a small bungalow. Our cultures really weren’t that different after all.
None of them are. Yes, we have our differences. Our communication, our food, our customs, but get out of the details and see the broad spectrum of each. Music, stories and art bind us all. Every one of our celebrations are accompanied with food, drink and dancing. What I have laid out here in these thoughts is simply a plea to everyone. Take the blinders off. Remove any preconceived notions of other cultures and religions. Seek to understand than to be understood. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I am thankful that our kind – humanity - has such diversity. If we all looked and acted the same, how boring would that make life be? It is easy for people of different cultures to find common ground to understand one another and begin that exploration of each other. We can’t continue to allow these acts of hate and prejudices to meander unchecked in our society no matter how small they may be. It is festering just below our feet and it is boiling up to the surface threatening to splinter through and divide us even more. Be conscious of that threat and meet it head on. Discrimination and hate are not just somebody else’s problem. And the first step to mending that tear within our society is to approach each morning like a beautiful fall day. Encourage everyone around you to take a step back and gaze at the year-round beauty of our colors.