Lines
crossposted from Lee Edward McIlmoyle's blog
Draw a line in the sand beside us.
Now step over that line.
We are now on opposing sides.
Do you see how easy that was?
What the line represents doesn’t really matter.
No, honestly, it doesn’t.
We have a ‘reason’ for every differentiation imaginable, so trust me, if you want a line between us, there’s a ‘reason’ for it.
We do it every day, to more people than we might care to admit.
That’s how easy it actually is to form an uninformed opinion about the people around you, including first-, second- and third-generation immigrants, people of colour, and other racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic types from our own. Even I do it. You’ve heard me rant about extremely rich people, as if I actually know any.
Do you really want to know the secret to world peace? It’s not more or less money. It’s not more or less guns. It’s not more or less prayer.
It’s imaginary lines.
Stop drawing those imaginary lines between us and other people. We’re all people, first. Every single problem you’re reading about in the news today is because people are afraid of other people, ‘different’ people, for reasons we don’t even fully understand, because if we did understand, we’d be able to see how wrong the whole concept of ‘Different’ is.
And all of that comes down to our natural, basic instinct to define ourselves by who and what we are not. And by basic, I mean reptilian brain logic, like insect politics. They smell different, so we hate them. That’s not human logic, and it’s not sustainable.
Sure, there are gross inequalities that separate many of us and limit our ability to live comfortably. But we’re being fooled into believing the reason is because of ‘Them’. It’s not some mysterious, foreign ‘Them’ that places the barriers on our ability to make ends meet. It’s us, buying into the fallacy of trickle down economics, making it possible for a small few to take advantage of our basic greed, playing this constant shell game with our natural and manmade resources. They pit us against each other like animals, and we fall for it every time.
There are no Greater-Thans or Less-Thans in this game. Not the British. Not the Americans. Certainly not the Canadians. Not the Whites, the Blacks, the Asians, the Hispanics, The Muslims, The Jews, The Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, the Gays, the Young, the Old, the Quick or the Dead. We’re all pawns. Even the very, very rich. We’ve all bought into a zero sum game. We’re in a race to the bottom. We’re on the Downward Spiral, and the only thing that money or power does is slows the rate of descent for a small few. We all reach the bottom in this game, and then the game is over.
NO ONE WINS. No. One.
Argue for your differences and shortcomings, and sure enough, they’re yours.
But there IS another way.
You could love.
Share this as widely as you wish. This is everything I have left to say to you all.
Love,
Lee.
Draw a line in the sand beside us.
Now step over that line.
We are now on opposing sides.
Do you see how easy that was?
What the line represents doesn’t really matter.
No, honestly, it doesn’t.
We have a ‘reason’ for every differentiation imaginable, so trust me, if you want a line between us, there’s a ‘reason’ for it.
We do it every day, to more people than we might care to admit.
That’s how easy it actually is to form an uninformed opinion about the people around you, including first-, second- and third-generation immigrants, people of colour, and other racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic types from our own. Even I do it. You’ve heard me rant about extremely rich people, as if I actually know any.
Do you really want to know the secret to world peace? It’s not more or less money. It’s not more or less guns. It’s not more or less prayer.
It’s imaginary lines.
Stop drawing those imaginary lines between us and other people. We’re all people, first. Every single problem you’re reading about in the news today is because people are afraid of other people, ‘different’ people, for reasons we don’t even fully understand, because if we did understand, we’d be able to see how wrong the whole concept of ‘Different’ is.
And all of that comes down to our natural, basic instinct to define ourselves by who and what we are not. And by basic, I mean reptilian brain logic, like insect politics. They smell different, so we hate them. That’s not human logic, and it’s not sustainable.
Sure, there are gross inequalities that separate many of us and limit our ability to live comfortably. But we’re being fooled into believing the reason is because of ‘Them’. It’s not some mysterious, foreign ‘Them’ that places the barriers on our ability to make ends meet. It’s us, buying into the fallacy of trickle down economics, making it possible for a small few to take advantage of our basic greed, playing this constant shell game with our natural and manmade resources. They pit us against each other like animals, and we fall for it every time.
There are no Greater-Thans or Less-Thans in this game. Not the British. Not the Americans. Certainly not the Canadians. Not the Whites, the Blacks, the Asians, the Hispanics, The Muslims, The Jews, The Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, the Gays, the Young, the Old, the Quick or the Dead. We’re all pawns. Even the very, very rich. We’ve all bought into a zero sum game. We’re in a race to the bottom. We’re on the Downward Spiral, and the only thing that money or power does is slows the rate of descent for a small few. We all reach the bottom in this game, and then the game is over.
NO ONE WINS. No. One.
Argue for your differences and shortcomings, and sure enough, they’re yours.
But there IS another way.
You could love.
Share this as widely as you wish. This is everything I have left to say to you all.
Love,
Lee.
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