Melting Pot or Not??

I have been wanting to write a post on the separations I see in society today as they have become so volatile. But, I have struggled to figure out where to start. They say at the beginning is always the best place, so I will start there. Before I do, however, I want to make clear the following are my truths and not necessarily yours. Also, there may be terms some find offensive in today’s day and age. They in no way are meant to be offensive, just terms used in my era and on my journey. Some of you will be happy to know that I am trying to define them and there use in my life, in order to see if changes or redefining needs to be made. I digress, so back to the task at hand.

Whether I knew it or not, I suppose my anatomy was my first separation. Congratulations it’s a girl. In our house, full of kids, growing up we had a boy’s room and a girl’s room. Although I do not think barriers ever stopped anyone in my family. Maybe sadly, maybe not so sadly, either way that is totally a topic for another day.

Kindergarten brought further separations; kids with other skin colors, kids whose families had money, and kids whose families were poor. As our bodies and minds began to change in grammar school, it added into this richness by adding tall, short, pretty, ugly, skinny, & fat into the mix. If all this was not enough, imagine walking into high school loaded with insecurities brought on by all these separations to be further separated into nerds, freaks, jocks, brains, special eds, popular kids, and clowns, just to name a few. College thankfully did not add many. But it did add a huge one; my right to vote – so Democrat or Republican? Nowadays, we have additional choices to add in such as Independents, Libertarians, & Greens.

My adult life brought in the additions of East Coasters, West Coasters, Middle America, Northerners, and Southerners. Because I have chosen to move around a little in my life, I recognize a huge benefit to that in my topic. That which I have gained in all my moving has been perspective. It is the ability, if I choose to use it, to see everyone’s side of the story. Some in my family began to notice this last November at a family gathering. While we were dining, shortly after the presidential election, my normal very talkative self remained silent for a short while as I took in the conversation at hand. I do not know how many recognized this at the same time, but suddenly they all were silent. Several looked at me to add into the conversation by asking “where do you lie in all of this”? My answer “I am in the middle trying to bring everyone to love”.

But, was I really? In the middle I mean. Every day I ask myself that same question. I am still unsure of the answer. But, I do know one thing, I definitely try to view any topic at hand from more than one viewpoint, I try to ask questions to broaden my view, and most importantly, I try to approach the conversations with love or compassion in my heart and not hate. The minute we say I hate in any conversation leads the conversation to a not so good place.

Now I am not saying necessarily that separations are always a bad thing. But, when we lose our ability to be an individual or to think differently or outside of the category or group we ended up in, well not good. And it is just as bad when we cannot see or refuse to see each individual by themselves apart from the category or group they are in. There is no saying or quantifying the amount of what could be learned or experienced if we would only see each other, each individual as we are and rejoice in that.

I always thought I attempted to do that in my life; see each person for who they are, but now I am not so sure. Was it me and/or my insecurities that was putting everyone into categories? Was everyone else doing the same as I was? Did the education system have any part in my thought process? Did they neglect to teach me things? Did they show bias or favoritism to certain categories or groups? As I grew older, what part did the political process play? Did the politicians making me feel afraid or making me promises have any part in me separating people? And well let us not forget the media. What part do they have in keeping me separated or viewing separations? What part do they play in my ignorance and fear? In the end I learned it was some of all of the above. I learned that most everybody had an agenda and sadly most of them were not to my benefit at all.

So my journey begins to bridge the separations. I think every day I am learning to try to do more of that. I am trying to see each individual for who they are, NOT for who anyone else wants me to see they are. In a society so volatile I have learned I have to be the change that I want in it. I cannot rely on my education system to teach me the whole truth. I cannot rely on the media to show me the whole truth. I must do my own research. That is why I have invited you along on my journey, because I can or we can only know your truth from you directly and vise versa. Maybe someday when enough of us want to shake the categories off of ourselves, we can together make an immeasurable impact. What do you think??